title: Taxonomic characterization and the bio-potential of bacteria isolated from glacier ice cores in the High Arctic.
abstract: Glacier ice and firn cores have ecological and biotechnological importance. The present study is aimed at characterizing bacteria in crustal ice cores from Svalbard, the Arctic. Counts of viable isolates ranged from 10 to 7000 CFU/ml (mean 803 CFU/ml) while the total bacterial numbers ranged from 7.20 × 10(4) to 2.59 × 10(7)  cells ml(-1) (mean 3.12 × 10(6)  cells ml(-1) ). Based on 16S rDNA sequence data, the identified species belonged to seven species, namely Bacillus barbaricus, Pseudomonas orientalis, Pseudomonas oryzihabitans, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas syncyanea, Sphingomonas dokdonensis, and Sphingomonas phyllosphaerae, with a sequence similarity ranging between 93.5 and 99.9% with taxa present in the database. The isolates exhibited unique phenotypic properties, and three isolates (MLB-2, MLB-5, and MLB-9) are novel species, yet to be described. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on characterization of cultured bacterial communities from Svalbard ice cores. We conclude that high lipase, protease, cellulase, amylase, and urease activities expressed by most of the isolates provide a clue to the potential industrial applications of these organisms. These microbes, producing cold-adapted enzymes may provide an opportunity for biotechnological research.
authors.affiliation: Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani-K.K. Birla Goa Campus, Zuarinagar, Goa-403726, India.
authors.forename: Purnima
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa-403804, India.
authors.forename: Shiv Mohan
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani-K.K. Birla Goa Campus, Zuarinagar, Goa-403726, India.
authors.forename: Utpal
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Roy
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D021301:Antifreeze Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001110:Arctic Regions; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D044822:Biodiversity; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D004798:Enzymes / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D046448:Ice Cover / Q000382:microbiology*; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D021301:Antifreeze Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D004798:Enzymes; D005227:Fatty Acids; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Diversity; Enzymes; Midre Lovénbreen glacier; Psychrophilic bacteria; Svalbard