title: Diversity of culturable bacteria recovered from Pico Bolívar's glacial and subglacial environments, at 4950 m, in Venezuelan tropical Andes.
abstract: Even though tropical glaciers are retreating rapidly and many will disappear in the next few years, their microbial diversity remains to be studied in depth. In this paper we report on the biodiversity of the culturable fraction of bacteria colonizing Pico Bolívar's glacier ice and subglacial meltwaters, at ∼4950 m in the Venezuelan Andean Mountains. Microbial cells of diverse morphologies and exhibiting uncompromised membranes were present at densities ranging from 1.5 × 104to 4.7 × 104cells/mL in glacier ice and from 4.1 × 105to 9.6 × 105cells/mL in subglacial meltwater. Of 89 pure isolates recovered from the samples, the majority were eurypsychrophilic or stenopsychrophilic, according to their temperature range of growth. Following analysis of their 16S rDNA nucleotidic sequence, 54 pure isolates were assigned to 23 phylotypes distributed within 4 different phyla or classes: Beta- and Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. Actinobacteria dominated the culturable fraction of glacier ice samples, whereas Proteobacteria were dominant in subglacial meltwater samples. Chloramphenicol and ampicillin resistance was exhibited by 73.07% and 65.38%, respectively, of the subglacial isolates, and nearly 35% of them were multiresistant. Considering the fast rate at which tropical glaciers are melting, this study confirms the urgent need to study the microbial communities immured in such environments.
authors: a Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Alberto Carnevalli, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: Johnma
authors: J
authors: Rondón
authors: a Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Alberto Carnevalli, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: Wileidy
authors: W
authors: Gómez
authors: a Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Alberto Carnevalli, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: María M
authors: MM
authors: Ball
authors: b Centro de Física Fundamental, Facultad de Ciencias, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Alberto Carnevalli, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: Alejandra
authors: A
authors: Melfo
authors: a Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Alberto Carnevalli, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: Marcos
authors: M
authors: Rengifo
authors: a Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Alberto Carnevalli, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: Wilvis
authors: W
authors: Balcázar
authors: c Centro de Microscopía Electrónica Dr. Ernesto Palacios Prü, Vicerrectorado Académico, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Tulio Febres Cordero, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: Delsy
authors: D
authors: Dávila-Vera
authors: c Centro de Microscopía Electrónica Dr. Ernesto Palacios Prü, Vicerrectorado Académico, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Tulio Febres Cordero, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: Alirio
authors: A
authors: Balza-Quintero
authors: c Centro de Microscopía Electrónica Dr. Ernesto Palacios Prü, Vicerrectorado Académico, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Tulio Febres Cordero, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.
authors: Rosa Virginia
authors: RV
authors: Mendoza-Briceño
authors: a Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Universidad de Los Andes, Av. Alberto Carnevalli, Mérida 5101, Estado Mérida, Venezuela.|d Laboratorio de Biología Molecular, Carrera de Ingeniería Agronómica, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Cuenca, Av. 12 de Octubre, Cuenca, Ecuador.
authors: Luis Andrés
authors: LA
authors: Yarzábal
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D041963:Bacteroidetes / Q000235:genetics; D044822:Biodiversity; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D046448:Ice Cover / Q000382:microbiology*; D020560:Proteobacteria / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D014687:Venezuela
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Andes tropicales; bactéries de glaces de glacier; bactéries psychrophiles; biodiversity; biodiversité; glacier ice bacteria; glaciers tropicaux; psychrophilic bacteria; tropical Andes; tropical glaciers