Microbial genomics amidst the Arctic crisis

Abstract

The Arctic is warming – fast. Microbes in the Arctic play pivotal roles in feedbacks that magnify the impacts of Arctic change. Understanding the genome evolution, diversity and dynamics of Arctic microbes can provide insights relevant for both fundamental microbiology and interdisciplinary Arctic science. Within this synthesis, we highlight four key areas where genomic insights to the microbial dimensions of Arctic change are urgently required: the changing Arctic Ocean, greenhouse gas release from the thawing permafrost, 'biological darkening' of glacial surfaces, and human activities within the Arctic. Furthermore, we identify four principal challenges that provide opportunities for timely innovation in Arctic microbial genomics. These range from insufficient genomic data to develop unifying concepts or model organisms for Arctic microbiology to challenges in gaining authentic insights to the structure and function of low-biomass microbiota and integration of data on the causes and consequences of microbial feedbacks across scales. We contend that our insights to date on the genomics of Arctic microbes are limited in these key areas, and we identify priorities and new ways of working to help ensure microbial genomics is in the vanguard of the scientific response to the Arctic crisis.

Novel Psychrophiles and Exopolymers from Permafrost Thaw Lake Sediments

“…The results of this study are consistent with the view that little-explored areas of our planet such as extreme Arctic environments contain high microbial biodiversity, with a level of genomic and metabolomic richness that has been largely unrecognized to date [ 50 ]. As shown here for permafrost thaw lake sediments, these habitats contain microbiota that can produce a wide array of interesting biomolecules, including enzymes and extracellular polysaccharides.…”

Linking Genomic and Physiological Characteristics of Psychrophilic Arthrobacter to Metagenomic Data to Explain Global Environmental Distribution

“…The challenge in being able to define the specific niche parameters enabling Group C Arthrobacter to be relatively competitive illustrates the inherent difficulties associated with defining 'cause and effect' for explaining 'why' microorganisms reside in the environments in which they are found; that is, the characteristics of the ecological niches that define microbiome structure [1]. Without knowing the specific effectors, the ability to understand and predict responses to environmental changes, is greatly compromised [4,6,54,55]. Establishing long-term data records that include comprehensive metadata associated with monitoring sites, including metadata for each biological sample, will be essential for learning how to link environmental parameters to microbial processes.…”

“…There is a growing realization that microorganisms constitute the life support system of the biosphere and must be properly accounted for when devising strategies to mitigate the impacts of human activity on the natural world [4]. In essence, we are living in a period in history when the need for society to learn about microbial responses to natural and anthropogenic influences is of unprecedented relevance [4][5][6].…”

Biological albedo reduction on ice sheets, glaciers, and snowfields

“…Below, we highlight gaps in our understanding of BAR in the cryosphere. Recent reviews have highlighted research priorities for BAR studies including establishing algae culture collections and sequencing algal genomes, measuring single cell reflectance spectra to facilitate remote sensing, and improving modeling of BAR effects over increasing spatial scales (Edwards et al, 2020;Hoham and Remias, 2020;Williamson et al, 2019). Here, we focus on gaps that have either not been covered by previous efforts or we extend their points.…”

“…Connecting genes to function in these communities, however, remains largely unexplored. Until recently, cutting-edge genomic tools-such as long-read sequencing (Hotaling and Kelley, 2019)-have not been applied to the cryosphere (Edwards et al, 2020;Williamson et al, 2019) although they likely hold considerable potential for understanding the genomic basis of life on ice, including phenotypic variation directly related to BAR (e.g., pigment production). The first genome of a cryophilic algae was recently reported from a green algae-Chlamydomonas sp.…”