Microbial communities associated with Antarctic snow pack and their biogeochemical implications.
Snow ecosystems represent a large part of the Earth's biosphere and harbour diverse microbial communities. Despite our increased knowledge of snow microbial communities, the question remains as to their functional potential, particularly with respect to their role in adapting to and modifying the specific snow environment. In this work, we investigated the diversity and functional capabilities of microorganisms from 3 regions of East Antarctica, with respect to compounds present in snow and tested whether their functional signature reflected the snow environment. A diverse assemblage of bacteria (Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Deinococcus-Thermus, Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia), archaea (Euryarchaeota), and eukarya (Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, Cryptomycota and Rhizaria) were detected through culture-dependent and -independent methods. Although microbial communities observed in the three snow samples were distinctly different, all isolates tested produced one or more of the following enzymes: lipase, protease, amylase, β-galactosidase, cellulase, and/or lignin modifying enzyme. This indicates that the snow pack microbes have the capacity to degrade organic compounds found in Antarctic snow (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, lignin), thus highlighting their potential to be involved in snow chemistry.
ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Headland Sada, Vasco-Da-Gama, Goa 403 804, India. Electronic address: runa@ncaor.gov.in.
Runa
R
Antony
ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Headland Sada, Vasco-Da-Gama, Goa 403 804, India.
Aritri
A
Sanyal
Agharkar Research Institute, G.G. Agarkar Road, Pune 411 004, India.
Neelam
N
Kapse
Agharkar Research Institute, G.G. Agarkar Road, Pune 411 004, India.
Prashant K
PK
Dhakephalkar
ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Headland Sada, Vasco-Da-Gama, Goa 403 804, India.
Meloth
M
Thamban
CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India.
Shanta
S
Nair
D000864:Antarctic Regions; D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification; D054892:Metagenome; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods; D064307:Microbiota; D012914:Snow / Q000382:microbiology*
Antarctica; Dissolved organic matter; Microbial communities; Snow; Supraglacial