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Zada S, Khan M, Su Z, Sajjad W, Rafiq M. Cryosphere: a frozen home of microbes and a potential source for drug discovery. Arch Microbiol 2024; 206:196. [PMID: 38546887 DOI: 10.1007/s00203-024-03899-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2024] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
The world is concerned about the emergence of pathogens and the occurrence and spread of antibiotic resistance among pathogens. Drug development requires time to combat these issues. Consequently, drug development from natural sources is unavoidable. Cryosphere represents a gigantic source of microbes that could be the bioprospecting source of natural products with unique scaffolds as molecules or drug templates. This review focuses on the novel source of drug discovery and cryospheric environments as a potential source for microbial metabolites having potential medicinal applications. Furthermore, the problems encountered in discovering metabolites from cold-adapted microbes and their resolutions are discussed. By adopting modern practical approaches, the discovery of bioactive compounds might fulfill the demand for new drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahib Zada
- Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Mohsin Khan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University Athens, Athens, OH, USA
| | - Zheng Su
- Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wasim Sajjad
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
| | - Muhammad Rafiq
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Life Sciences and Informatics, Balochistan University of IT, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta, 87650, Pakistan.
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Zhang Z, Qi J, Liu Y, Ji M, Wang W, Wu W, Liu K, Huang Z. Anthropogenic impact on airborne bacteria of the Tibetan Plateau. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2024; 183:108370. [PMID: 38091822 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Revised: 11/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
The Tibetan Plateau is a pristine environment with limited human disturbance, with its aerosol microbiome being primarily influenced by the monsoon and westerly circulations. Additionally, the diversity and abundance of airborne microorganisms are also affected by anthropogenic activities, such as animal farming, agriculture, and tourism, which can lead to increased risks to the ecosystem and human health. However, the impact of anthropogenic activities on airborne microbes on the Tibetan Plateau has been rarely studied. In this work, we investigated the airborne bacteria of areas with weak (rural glacier) and strong human disturbance (urban building), and found that anthropogenic activities increased the diversity of airborne bacteria, and the concentration of potential airborne pathogens. Moreover, airborne bacteria in rural aerosols demonstrated significant differences in their community structure during monsoon- and westerly-affected seasons, while this pattern was weakened in urban aerosols. Additionally, urban aerosols enriched Lactobacillus sp. (member of genus Lactobacillus), which are potential pathogens from anthropogenic sources, whereas rural aerosols enriched A. calcoaceticus (member of genus Acinetobacter) and E. thailandicus (member of genus Enterococcus), which are both speculated to be sourced from surrounding animal farming. This study evaluated the impact of human activities on airborne bacteria in the Tibetan Plateau and contributed to understanding the enrichment of airborne pathogens in natural and anthropogenic background.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhihao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Jing Qi
- Center for the Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Yongqin Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Center for the Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
| | - Mukan Ji
- Center for the Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Wenqiang Wang
- Center for the Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Wenjie Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Keshao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Zhongwei Huang
- Key Laboratory for Semi-Arid Climate Change of the Ministry of Education, College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Touchette D, Gostinčar C, Whyte LG, Altshuler I. Lichen-associated microbial members are prevalent in the snow microbiome of a sub-arctic alpine tundra. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2023; 99:fiad151. [PMID: 37977855 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiad151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Snow is the largest component of the cryosphere, with its cover and distribution rapidly decreasing over the last decade due to climate warming. It is imperative to characterize the snow (nival) microbial communities to better understand the role of microorganisms inhabiting these rapidly changing environments. Here, we investigated the core nival microbiome, the cultivable microbial members, and the microbial functional diversity of the remote Uapishka mountain range, a massif of alpine sub-arctic tundra and boreal forest. Snow samples were taken over a two-month interval along an altitude gradient with varying degree of anthropogenic traffic and vegetation cover. The core snow alpine tundra/boreal microbiome, which was present across all samples, constituted of Acetobacterales, Rhizobiales and Acidobacteriales bacterial orders, and of Mycosphaerellales and Lecanorales fungal orders, with the dominant fungal taxa being associated with lichens. The snow samples had low active functional diversity, with Richness values ranging from 0 to 19.5. The culture-based viable microbial enumeration ranged from 0 to 8.05 × 103 CFUs/mL. We isolated and whole-genome sequenced five microorganisms which included three fungi, one alga, and one potentially novel bacterium of the Lichenihabitans genus; all of which appear to be part of lichen-associated taxonomic clades.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Touchette
- Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, H9X 3V9, Canada
- River Ecosystems Laboratory, ALPOLE, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1950, Sion, Switzerland
| | - C Gostinčar
- University of Ljubljana, Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia
| | - L G Whyte
- Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, H9X 3V9, Canada
| | - I Altshuler
- Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, H9X 3V9, Canada
- MACE Laboratory, ALPOLE, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1950, Sion, Switzerland
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Wallace ML, Tallarida N, Schubert WW, Lambert J. Life Detection on Icy Moons Using Flow Cytometry and Exogenous Fluorescent Stains. ASTROBIOLOGY 2023; 23:1071-1082. [PMID: 37672625 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2023.0016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/08/2023]
Abstract
Flow cytometry is a potential technology for in situ life detection on icy moons (such as Enceladus and Europa) and on the polar ice caps of Mars. We developed a method for using flow cytometry to positively identify four classes of biomarkers using exogenous fluorescent stains: nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. We demonstrated the effectiveness of exogenous stains with six known organisms and known abiotic material and showed that the cytometer is easily able to distinguish between the known organisms and the known abiotic material using the exogenous stains. To simulate a life-detection experiment on an icy world lander, we used six natural samples with unknown biotic and abiotic content. We showed that flow cytometry can identify all four biomarkers using the exogenous stains and can separate the biotic material from the known abiotic material on scatter plots. Exogenous staining techniques would likely be used in conjunction with intrinsic fluorescence, clustering, and sorting for a more complete and capable life-detection instrument on an icy moon lander.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew L Wallace
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Nicholas Tallarida
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Wayne W Schubert
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - James Lambert
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
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Nawaz S, Rafiq M, Pepper IL, Betancourt WQ, Shah AA, Hasan F. Prevalence and abundance of antibiotic-resistant genes in culturable bacteria inhabiting a non-polar passu glacier, karakorum mountains range, Pakistan. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 2023; 39:94. [PMID: 36754876 DOI: 10.1007/s11274-023-03532-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023]
Abstract
Natural pristine environments including cold habitats are thought to be the potent reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant genes and have been recurrently reported in polar glaciers' native bacteria, nevertheless, their abundance among the non-polar glaciers' inhabitant bacteria is mostly uncharted. Herein we evaluated antibiotic resistance profile, abundance of antibiotic-resistant genes plus class 1, 2, and 3 integron integrases in 65 culturable bacterial isolates retrieved from a non-polar glacier. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis identified predominantly Gram-negative 43 (66.15%) and Gram-positive 22 (33.84%) isolates. Among the Gram-negative bacteria, Gammaproteobacteria were dominant (62.79%), followed by Betaproteobacteria (18.60%) and Alphaproteobacteria (9.30%), whereas Phyla Actinobacteria (50%) and Firmicutes (40.90%) were predominant among Gram-positive. The Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method evaluated significant antibiotic resistance among the isolates. PCR amplification revealed phylum Proteobacteria predominantly carrying 21 disparate antibiotic-resistant genes like; blaAmpC 6 (100%), blaVIM-1, blaSHV and blaDHA 5 (100%) each, blaOXA-1 1 (100%), blaCMY-4 4 (100%), followed by Actinobacteria 14, Firmicutes 13 and Bacteroidetes 11. Tested isolates were negative for blaKPC, qnrA, vanA, ermA, ermB, intl2, and intl3. Predominant Gram-negative isolates had higher MAR index values, compared to Gram-positive. Alignment of protein homology sequences of antibiotic-resistant genes with references revealed amino acid variations in blaNDM-1, blaOXA-1, blaSHV, mecA, aac(6)-Ib3, tetA, tetB, sul2, qnrB, gyrA, and intI1. Promising antibiotic-resistant bacteria, harbored with numerous antibiotic-resistant genes and class 1 integron integrase with some amino acid variations detected, accentuating the mandatory focus to evaluate the intricate transcriptome analysis of glaciated bacteria conferring antibiotic resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabir Nawaz
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Rafiq
- Department of Microbiology, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta, Pakistan.
| | - Ian L Pepper
- Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center, University of Arizona, 2959 W. Calle Agua Nueva, 85745, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Walter Q Betancourt
- Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center, University of Arizona, 2959 W. Calle Agua Nueva, 85745, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Aamer Ali Shah
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Fariha Hasan
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
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Liu Y, Zhang Z, Ji M, Hu A, Wang J, Jing H, Liu K, Xiao X, Zhao W. Comparison of prokaryotes between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench. MICROBIOME 2022; 10:215. [PMID: 36476562 PMCID: PMC9727886 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01403-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench represent the highest and deepest places on Earth, respectively. They are geographically separated, with distinct extreme environmental parameters that provide unique habitats for prokaryotes. Comparison of prokaryotes between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench will provide a unique perspective to understanding the composition and distribution of environmental microbiomes on Earth. RESULTS Here, we compared prokaryotic communities between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench based on shotgun metagenomic analysis. Analyzing 25 metagenomes and 1176 metagenome-assembled genomes showed distinct taxonomic compositions between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench, with little taxa overlap, and significant differences in genome size, GC content, and predicted optimal growth temperature. However, community metabolic capabilities exhibited striking commonality, with > 90% of metabolic modules overlapping among samples of Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench, with the only exception for CO2 fixations (photoautotrophy in Mount Everest but chemoautotrophy in the Mariana Trench). Most metabolic pathways were common but performed by distinct taxa in the two extreme habitats, even including some specialized metabolic pathways, such as the versatile degradation of various refractory organic matters, heavy metal metabolism (e.g., As and Se), stress resistance, and antioxidation. The metabolic commonality indicated the overall consistent roles of prokaryotes in elemental cycling and common adaptation strategies to overcome the distinct stress conditions despite the intuitively huge differences in Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench. CONCLUSION Our results, the first comparison between prokaryotes in the highest and the deepest habitats on Earth, may highlight the principles of prokaryotic diversity: although taxa are habitat-specific, primary metabolic functions could be always conserved. Video abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongqin Liu
- Center for Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhihao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Mukan Ji
- Center for Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Aoran Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
- International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Jing Wang
- International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
- School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
- SJTU Yazhou Bay Institute of Deepsea Sci-Tech, Yongyou Industrial Park, Sanya, 572024, China
| | - Hongmei Jing
- Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China
| | - Keshao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiang Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
- International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
- SJTU Yazhou Bay Institute of Deepsea Sci-Tech, Yongyou Industrial Park, Sanya, 572024, China.
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, Guangdong, China.
| | - Weishu Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
- International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
- SJTU Yazhou Bay Institute of Deepsea Sci-Tech, Yongyou Industrial Park, Sanya, 572024, China.
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Estimating biodiversity across the tree of life on Mount Everest’s southern flank with environmental DNA. iScience 2022; 25:104848. [PMID: 36148432 PMCID: PMC9486557 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Species composition in high-alpine ecosystems is a useful indicator for monitoring climatic and environmental changes at the upper limits of habitable environments. We used environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis to document the breadth of high-alpine biodiversity present on Earth’s highest mountain, Mt. Everest (8,849 m a.s.l.) in Nepal’s Khumbu region. In April-May 2019, we collected eDNA from ten ponds and streams between 4,500 m and 5,500 m. Using multiple sequencing and bioinformatic approaches, we identified taxa from 36 phyla and 187 potential orders across the Tree of Life in Mt. Everest’s high-alpine and aeolian ecosystem. These organisms, all recorded above 4,500 m—an elevational belt comprising <3% of Earth’s land surface—represents ∼16% of global taxonomic order estimates. Our eDNA inventory will aid future high-Himalayan biomonitoring and retrospective molecular studies to assess changes over time as climate-driven warming, glacial melt, and anthropogenic influences reshape this rapidly transforming world-renowned ecosystem. First comprehensive eDNA biodiversity survey conducted on Earth’s highest mountain One-sixth (16%) of global orders detected are >4,500m on the south flank of Everest Identified 187 unique orders from 36 phyla across the six kingdoms Metabarcoding and WGS approaches provide distinct yet complementary information
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Glaciers as microbial habitats: current knowledge and implication. J Microbiol 2022; 60:767-779. [DOI: 10.1007/s12275-022-2275-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Revised: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
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Host-Associated Phages Disperse across the Extraterrestrial Analogue Antarctica. Appl Environ Microbiol 2022; 88:e0031522. [PMID: 35499326 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00315-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Extreme Antarctic conditions provide one of the closest analogues of extraterrestrial environments. Since air and snow samples, especially from polar regions, yield DNA amounts in the lower picogram range, binning of prokaryotic genomes is challenging and renders studying the dispersal of biological entities across these environments difficult. Here, we hypothesized that dispersal of host-associated bacteriophages (adsorbed, replicating, or prophages) across the Antarctic continent can be tracked via their genetic signatures, aiding our understanding of virus and host dispersal across long distances. Phage genome fragments (PGFs) reconstructed from surface snow metagenomes of three Antarctic stations were assigned to four host genomes, mainly Betaproteobacteria, including Ralstonia spp. We reconstructed the complete genome of a temperate phage with nearly complete alignment to a prophage in the reference genome of Ralstonia pickettii 12D. PGFs from different stations were related to each other at the genus level and matched similar hosts. Metagenomic read mapping and nucleotide polymorphism analysis revealed a wide dispersal of highly identical PGFs, 13 of which were detected in seawater from the Western Antarctic Peninsula at a distance of 5,338 km from the snow sampling stations. Our results suggest that host-associated phages, especially of Ralstonia sp., disperse over long distances despite the harsh conditions of the Antarctic continent. Given that 14 phages associated with two R. pickettii draft genomes isolated from space equipment were identified, we conclude that Ralstonia phages are ideal mobile genetic elements to track dispersal and contamination in ecosystems relevant for astrobiology. IMPORTANCE Host-associated phages of the bacterium Ralstonia identified in snow samples can be used to track microbial dispersal over thousands of kilometers across the Antarctic continent, which functions as an extraterrestrial analogue because of its harsh environmental conditions. Due to the presence of these bacteria carrying genome-integrated prophages on space-related equipment and the potential for dispersal of host-associated phages demonstrated here, our work has implications for planetary protection, a discipline in astrobiology interested in preventing contamination of celestial bodies with alien biomolecules or forms of life.
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Mukhia S, Kumar A, Kumari P, Kumar R, Kumar S. Multilocus sequence based identification and adaptational strategies of Pseudomonas sp. from the supraglacial site of Sikkim Himalaya. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0261178. [PMID: 35073328 PMCID: PMC8786180 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Microorganisms inhabiting the supraglacial ice are biotechnologically significant as they are equipped with unique adaptive features in response to extreme environmental conditions of high ultraviolet radiations and frequent freeze-thaw. In the current study, we obtained eleven strains of Pseudomonas from the East Rathong supraglacial site in Sikkim Himalaya that showed taxonomic ambiguity in terms of species affiliation. Being one of the most complex and diverse genera, deciphering the correct taxonomy of Pseudomonas species has always been challenging. So, we conducted multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) using five housekeeping genes, which concluded the taxonomic assignment of these strains to Pseudomonas antarctica. This was further supported by the lesser mean genetic distances with P. antarctica (0.73%) compared to P. fluorescens (3.65%), and highest ANI value of ~99 and dDDH value of 91.2 of the representative strains with P. antarctica PAMC 27494. We examined the multi-tolerance abilities of these eleven Pseudomonas strains. Indeed the studied strains displayed significant tolerance to freezing for 96 hours compared to the mesophilic control strain, while except for four strains, seven strains exhibited noteworthy tolerance to UV-C radiations. The genome-based findings revealed many cold and radiation resistance-associated genes that supported the physiological findings. Further, the bacterial strains produced two or more cold-active enzymes in plate-based assays. Owing to the polyadaptational attributes, the strains ERGC3:01 and ERGC3:05 could be most promising for bioprospection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srijana Mukhia
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India
- Department of Microbiology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India
| | - Anil Kumar
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR- Human Resource Development Centre (CSIR-HRDC), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Poonam Kumari
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India
| | - Rakshak Kumar
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India
| | - Sanjay Kumar
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India
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Farooq S, Nazir R, Ganai BA, Mushtaq H, Dar GJ. Psychrophilic and psychrotrophic bacterial diversity of Himalayan Thajwas glacial soil, India. Biologia (Bratisl) 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s11756-021-00915-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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12
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Zhong ZP, Tian F, Roux S, Gazitúa MC, Solonenko NE, Li YF, Davis ME, Van Etten JL, Mosley-Thompson E, Rich VI, Sullivan MB, Thompson LG. Glacier ice archives nearly 15,000-year-old microbes and phages. MICROBIOME 2021; 9:160. [PMID: 34281625 PMCID: PMC8290583 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-021-01106-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/31/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Glacier ice archives information, including microbiology, that helps reveal paleoclimate histories and predict future climate change. Though glacier-ice microbes are studied using culture or amplicon approaches, more challenging metagenomic approaches, which provide access to functional, genome-resolved information and viruses, are under-utilized, partly due to low biomass and potential contamination. RESULTS We expand existing clean sampling procedures using controlled artificial ice-core experiments and adapted previously established low-biomass metagenomic approaches to study glacier-ice viruses. Controlled sampling experiments drastically reduced mock contaminants including bacteria, viruses, and free DNA to background levels. Amplicon sequencing from eight depths of two Tibetan Plateau ice cores revealed common glacier-ice lineages including Janthinobacterium, Polaromonas, Herminiimonas, Flavobacterium, Sphingomonas, and Methylobacterium as the dominant genera, while microbial communities were significantly different between two ice cores, associating with different climate conditions during deposition. Separately, ~355- and ~14,400-year-old ice were subject to viral enrichment and low-input quantitative sequencing, yielding genomic sequences for 33 vOTUs. These were virtually all unique to this study, representing 28 novel genera and not a single species shared with 225 environmentally diverse viromes. Further, 42.4% of the vOTUs were identifiable temperate, which is significantly higher than that in gut, soil, and marine viromes, and indicates that temperate phages are possibly favored in glacier-ice environments before being frozen. In silico host predictions linked 18 vOTUs to co-occurring abundant bacteria (Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, and Janthinobacterium), indicating that these phages infected ice-abundant bacterial groups before being archived. Functional genome annotation revealed four virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes, particularly two motility genes suggest viruses potentially facilitate nutrient acquisition for their hosts. Finally, given their possible importance to methane cycling in ice, we focused on Methylobacterium viruses by contextualizing our ice-observed viruses against 123 viromes and prophages extracted from 131 Methylobacterium genomes, revealing that the archived viruses might originate from soil or plants. CONCLUSIONS Together, these efforts further microbial and viral sampling procedures for glacier ice and provide a first window into viral communities and functions in ancient glacier environments. Such methods and datasets can potentially enable researchers to contextualize new discoveries and begin to incorporate glacier-ice microbes and their viruses relative to past and present climate change in geographically diverse regions globally. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi-Ping Zhong
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Funing Tian
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Simon Roux
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | | | - Natalie E Solonenko
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Yueh-Fen Li
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Mary E Davis
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - James L Van Etten
- Department of Plant Pathology and Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Ellen Mosley-Thompson
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Geography, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Virginia I Rich
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
| | - Lonnie G Thompson
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
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13
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Ignatenko ME, Selivanova EA, Khlopko YA, Khlopko YA, Yatsenko-Stepanova TN. Algal and cyanobacterial diversity in saline rivers of the Elton Lake Basin (Russia) studied via light microscopy and next-generation sequencing. BIOSYSTEMS DIVERSITY 2021. [DOI: 10.15421/012108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Naturally saline rivers are known in various regions of the world. Saline rivers with a salinity gradient from the source to the mouth are particularly interesting, because the range of salinity is the structure-forming factor of the hydrobiont assemblage. Such rivers are represented by saline rivers of the Elton Lake Basin in Volgograd region of Russia (the Bolshaya Samoroda River and the Malaya Samoroda River). Herein, we analyzed taxonomic structure and species diversity of microalgae and Cyanobacteria of the saline rivers flowing into the Elton Lake by light microscopy and next-generation sequencing. The differences and possible causes of inconsistencies in the results obtained by these methods are discussed. In total, 91 taxa of microorganisms were identified by integrated approach in the assemblages of microalgae and Cyanobacteria in the middle course of the Bolshaya Samoroda River, and 60 taxa – in the river mouth. The species diversity of those assemblages in the hypersaline Malaya Samoroda River was lower: 27 taxa from the middle course and 23 taxa from the mouth. Next-generation sequencing allowed us to refine and expand the list of microalgae taxa in the studied saline rivers due to detection of species which were hard to identify, low-abundance taxa, as well as extremely small-cell forms. Some discrepancies between the data obtained by light microscopy and next-generation sequencing indicate the advantage of simultaneous use of both methods for study of the algae communities. Such a comprehensive approach provides the most accurate and correct list of taxa added with the morphological descriptions and 18S rRNA and 16S rRNA partial sequences. Generally, 18 taxa have been recorded for the first time in the Bolshaya Samoroda River, belonging to the phyla Chlorophyta (Borodinellopsis sp., Chlorochytrium lemnae Cohn, Caespitella sp., Halochlorococcum sp., Tetraselmis cordiformis (H. J. Carter) F. Stein), Ochrophyta (Pseudocharaciopsis ovalis (Chodat) D. J. Hibberd, Characiopsis sp., Poterioochromonas stipitata Scherffel, Chrysolepidomonas sp.), Euglenozoa (Euglena bucharica I. Kisselev, Lepocinclis tripteris (Dujardin) B. Marin & Melkonian, Phacus orbicularis K. Hübner, P. parvulus G. A. Klebs), Cryptophyta (Hemiselmis cryptochromatica C. E. Lane & J. M. Archibald, Rhodomonas sp., Hanusia phi J. A. Deane), Haptophyta (Pavlova sp.), Cyanobacteria (Johanseninema constrictum (Szafer) Hasler, Dvorák & Poulícková). Seven taxa have been detected for the first time in the algal and cyanobacterial assemblages of the Malaya Samoroda River from the phyla Chlorophyta (Tetraselmis cordiformis, T. arnoldii (Proschkina-Lavrenko) R. E. Norris, Hori & Chihara, T. tetrathele (West) Butcher, Pyrobotrys elongatus Korshikov), Cryptophyta (Hanusia phi), and Cyanobacteria (Synechococcus elongatus (Nägeli) Nägeli, Oscillatoria simplicissima Gomont).
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14
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Sajjad W, Ali B, Bahadur A, Ghimire PS, Kang S. Bacterial Diversity and Communities Structural Dynamics in Soil and Meltwater Runoff at the Frontier of Baishui Glacier No.1, China. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2021; 81:370-384. [PMID: 32918153 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-020-01600-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Comprehensive knowledge of bacterial ecology mainly in supraglacial habitats is pivotal particularly at the frontier of accelerated glacier retreat. In this study, bacterial diversity and community composition in glacial soil and meltwater runoff at the frontier of Baishui Glacier No.1 were evaluated using high throughput sequencing. Significant variations in the physiochemical parameters formed an ecological gradient between soil and meltwater runoff. Based on the richness and evenness indexes, the bacterial diversity was relatively higher in soil compared with meltwater runoff. Hierarchical clustering and bi-plot ordination revealed that the taxonomic composition of soil samples was highly similar and significantly influenced by the ecological parameters than the meltwater runoff. The overall relative abundance trend of bacterial phyla and genera were greatly varied in soil and water samples. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria was higher in water runoff samples (40.5-87%) compared with soil samples (32-52.7%). Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and a little part of Cyanobacteria occupied a major portion of water runoff while the soil was dominated by Acidobacteria (6-16.2%), Actinobacteria (5-16%), Bacteroidetes (0.5-8.8%), and Cyanobacteria (0.1-8.3%) besides Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. Higher numbers of biomarkers were found in soil group compared with the water group. The study area is diverse in terms of richness, while community structures are not evenly distributed. This study provides a preliminary understanding of the bacterial diversity and shifts in community structure in soil and meltwater runoff at the frontier of the glacial. The findings revealed that the environmental factors are a significantly strong determinant of bacterial community structures in such a closely linked ecosystem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wasim Sajjad
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China
| | - Barkat Ali
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ali Bahadur
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China
- Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu Province, China
| | - Prakriti Sharma Ghimire
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China
| | - Shichang Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, China.
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15
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Liu Q, Li W, Liu D, Li L, Li J, Lv N, Liu F, Zhu B, Zhou Y, Xin Y, Dong X. Light stimulates anoxic and oligotrophic growth of glacial Flavobacterium strains that produce zeaxanthin. ISME JOURNAL 2021; 15:1844-1857. [PMID: 33452478 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-020-00891-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2020] [Revised: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Bacteria that inhabit glaciers usually produce carotenoids. Here, we report that a group of zeaxanthin-producing glacial Flavobacterium exhibited light-promoted growth. Of the tested 47 strains, 45 showed increased growths but two died under illumination at 50 μmol photon m-2 s-1. Light stimulation occurred mainly in either anoxic or nutrient-poor cultures, while the same levels of light promotion were found for that grown at 14 and 7 °C. Pigment assays identified overrepresentative zeaxanthin but trace retinal in the light promoted 45 strains, while flexirubin was exclusively in the light-lethal two. Genomic analysis revealed the gene cluster for zeaxanthin synthesis in the 45 strains, in which 37 strains also harbored the proteorhodopsin gene prd. Transcriptomic analysis found that light-induced expressions of both the zeaxanthin synthesis and proteorhodopsin genes. Whereas, deletion of the prd gene in one strain did not diminish light promotion, inhibition of zeaxanthin synthesis did. In comparison, no light promotion was determined in a glacier Cryobacterium luteum that produced a non-zeaxanthin-type carotenoid. Therefore, light stimulation on the glacial Flavobacterium is mostly likely related to zeaxanthin, which could provide better photoprotection and sustain membrane integrity for the organisms living in cold environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.,China General Microorganism Culture Collection Center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Wei Li
- Computational Virology Group, Center for Bacteria and Viruses Resources and Bioinformation, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Di Liu
- Computational Virology Group, Center for Bacteria and Viruses Resources and Bioinformation, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Lingyan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Jie Li
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Na Lv
- CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Fei Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Baoli Zhu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Yuguang Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China. .,China General Microorganism Culture Collection Center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
| | - Yuhua Xin
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China. .,China General Microorganism Culture Collection Center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
| | - Xiuzhu Dong
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China. .,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
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16
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Ali P, Chen F, Hassan F, Sosa A, Khan S, Badshah M, Shah AA. Bacterial community characterization of Batura Glacier in the Karakoram Range of Pakistan. Int Microbiol 2021; 24:183-196. [PMID: 33404934 DOI: 10.1007/s10123-020-00153-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2020] [Revised: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 11/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
High-altitude cold habitats of the Karakoram are rarely explored for their bacterial community characterization and metabolite productions. In the present study, bacterial communities in ice, water, and sediments of Batura Glacier were investigated using culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. Twenty-seven cold-adapted bacterial strains (mostly psychrotrophic) were isolated using R2A, Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA), and Luria-Bertani (LB) media, at 4 °C and 15 °C. Most of the isolates exhibited growth at a wide range of temperature (4-35 °C), pH (5-12), and salinity (1-6%). Among the bacterial isolates, 52% were identified as Gram-positive and the remaining 48% represented as Gram-negative. The results of phylogenetic analysis indicated that all the culturable bacteria belonged to 3 major phylogenetic groups, i.e., Actinobacteria (48%), Bacteroidetes (26%), and Proteobacteria (22%), while Flavobacterium (26%), Arthrobacter (22%), and Pseudomonas (19%) were represented as the dominant genera. Similarly, Illumina amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA genes after PCR amplification of DNA from the whole community revealed dominance of the same phylogenetic groups, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, while Arthrobacter, Mycoplana, Ochrobactrum, Kaistobacter, Janthinobacterium, and Flavobacterium were found as the dominant genera. Among the culturable isolates, 70% demonstrated activity for cellulases, 48% lipases, 41% proteases, 41% DNases, and only 7% for amylases. Most of the glacial isolates demonstrated antimicrobial activity against other microorganisms including the multiple-drug-resistant strains of Candida albicans, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter sp., and Bacillus sp. 67% of Gram-negative while 46% of Gram-positive glacial bacteria were resistant to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Resistance against methicillin and vancomycin among the Gram-positive isolates was 23% and 15%, respectively, while 11% of the Gram-negative isolates exhibited resistance against both colistin sulfate and nalidixic acid.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pervaiz Ali
- Applied Environmental and Geomicrobiology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.,Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Feng Chen
- Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Fariha Hassan
- Applied Environmental and Geomicrobiology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Ana Sosa
- Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Samiullah Khan
- Applied Environmental and Geomicrobiology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Malik Badshah
- Applied Environmental and Geomicrobiology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Aamer Ali Shah
- Applied Environmental and Geomicrobiology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
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17
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Smirnova M, Miamin U, Kohler A, Valentovich L, Akhremchuk A, Sidarenka A, Dolgikh A, Shapaval V. Isolation and characterization of fast-growing green snow bacteria from coastal East Antarctica. Microbiologyopen 2021; 10:e1152. [PMID: 33377317 PMCID: PMC7887010 DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.1152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Revised: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Snow microorganisms play a significant role in climate change and affecting the snow melting rate in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. While research on algae inhabiting green and red snow has been performed extensively, bacteria dwelling in this biotope have been studied to a much lesser extent. In this study, we performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of two green snow samples collected from the coastal area of the eastern part of Antarctica and conducted genotypic and phenotypic profiling of 45 fast-growing bacteria isolated from these samples. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of two green snow samples showed that bacteria inhabiting these samples are mostly represented by families Burkholderiaceae (46.31%), Flavobacteriaceae (22.98%), and Pseudomonadaceae (17.66%). Identification of 45 fast-growing bacteria isolated from green snow was performed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We demonstrated that they belong to the phyla Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, and are represented by the genera Arthrobacter, Cryobacterium, Leifsonia, Salinibacterium, Paeniglutamicibacter, Rhodococcus, Polaromonas, Pseudomonas, and Psychrobacter. Nearly all bacterial isolates exhibited various growth temperatures from 4°C to 25°C, and some isolates were characterized by a high level of enzymatic activity. Phenotyping using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed a possible accumulation of intracellular polymer polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) or lipids in some isolates. The bacteria showed different lipids/PHA and protein profiles. It was shown that lipid/PHA and protein spectral regions are the most discriminative for differentiating the isolates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margarita Smirnova
- Faculty of Science and TechnologyNorwegian University of Life SciencesÅsNorway
| | | | - Achim Kohler
- Faculty of Science and TechnologyNorwegian University of Life SciencesÅsNorway
| | - Leonid Valentovich
- Faculty of BiologyBelarusian State UniversityMinskBelarus
- Institute of MicrobiologyNational Academy of Sciences of BelarusMinskBelarus
| | - Artur Akhremchuk
- Institute of MicrobiologyNational Academy of Sciences of BelarusMinskBelarus
| | - Anastasiya Sidarenka
- Faculty of BiologyBelarusian State UniversityMinskBelarus
- Institute of MicrobiologyNational Academy of Sciences of BelarusMinskBelarus
| | - Andrey Dolgikh
- Institute of GeographyRussian Academy of SciencesMoscowRussia
| | - Volha Shapaval
- Faculty of Science and TechnologyNorwegian University of Life SciencesÅsNorway
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18
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Dhakar K, Pandey A. Microbial Ecology from the Himalayan Cryosphere Perspective. Microorganisms 2020; 8:microorganisms8020257. [PMID: 32075196 PMCID: PMC7074745 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8020257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2020] [Revised: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cold-adapted microorganisms represent a large fraction of biomass on Earth because of the dominance of low-temperature environments. Extreme cold environments are mainly dependent on microbial activities because this climate restricts higher plants and animals. Himalaya is one of the most important cold environments on Earth as it shares climatic similarities with the polar regions. It includes a wide range of ecosystems, from temperate to extreme cold, distributed along the higher altitudes. These regions are characterized as stressful environments because of the heavy exposure to harmful rays, scarcity of nutrition, and freezing conditions. The microorganisms that colonize these regions are recognized as cold-tolerant (psychrotolerants) or/and cold-loving (psychrophiles) microorganisms. These microorganisms possess several structural and functional adaptations in order to perform normal life processes under the stressful low-temperature environments. Their biological activities maintain the nutrient flux in the environment and contribute to the global biogeochemical cycles. Limited culture-dependent and culture-independent studies have revealed their diversity in community structure and functional potential. Apart from the ecological importance, these microorganisms have been recognized as source of cold-active enzymes and novel bioactive compounds of industrial and biotechnological importance. Being an important part of the cryosphere, Himalaya needs to be explored at different dimensions related to the life of the inhabiting extremophiles. The present review discusses the distinct facts associated with microbial ecology from the Himalayan cryosphere perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kusum Dhakar
- Newe Ya’ar Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization, Ramat Yishay 30095, Israel;
| | - Anita Pandey
- Department of Biotechnology, Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Bell Road, Clement Town, Dehradun 248002, India
- Correspondence:
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19
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Soto DF, Fuentes R, Huovinen P, Gómez I. Microbial composition and photosynthesis in Antarctic snow algae communities: Integrating metabarcoding and pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry. ALGAL RES 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.algal.2019.101738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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20
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Sharma Ghimire P, Tripathee L, Zhang Q, Guo J, Ram K, Huang J, Sharma CM, Kang S. Microbial mercury methylation in the cryosphere: Progress and prospects. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2019; 697:134150. [PMID: 32380618 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2019] [Revised: 08/20/2019] [Accepted: 08/26/2019] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Mercury (Hg) is one of the most toxic heavy metals, and its cycle is mainly controlled by oxidation-reduction reactions carried out by photochemical or microbial process under suitable conditions. The deposition and accumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) in various ecosystems, including the cryospheric components such as snow, meltwater, glaciers, and ice sheet, and subsequently in the food chain pose serious health concerns for living beings. Unlike the abundance of knowledge about the processes of MeHg production over land and oceans, little is known about the sources and production/degradation rate of MeHg in cryosphere systems. In addition, processes controlling the concentration of Hg and MeHg in the cryosphere remains poorly understood, and filling this scientific gap has been challenging. Therefore, it is essential to study and review the deposition and accumulation by biological, physical, and chemical mechanisms involved in Hg methylation in the cryosphere. This review attempts to address knowledge gaps in understanding processes, especially biotic and abiotic, applicable for Hg methylation in the cryosphere. First, we focus on the variability in Hg concentration and mechanisms of Hg methylation, including physical, chemical, microbial, and biological processes, and transportation in the cryosphere. Then, we elaborate on the mechanism of redox reactions and biotic and abiotic factors controlling Hg methylation and biogeochemistry of Hg in the cryosphere. We also present possible mechanisms of Hg methylation with an emphasis on microbial transformation and molecular function to understand variability in Hg concentration in the cryosphere. Recent advancements in the genetic and physicochemical mechanisms of Hg methylation are also presented. Finally, we summarize and propose a method to study the unsolved issues of Hg methylation in the cryosphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prakriti Sharma Ghimire
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China; Himalayan Environment Research Institute (HERI), Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Lekhendra Tripathee
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China; Himalayan Environment Research Institute (HERI), Kathmandu, Nepal.
| | - Qianggong Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Junming Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Kirpa Ram
- Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
| | - Jie Huang
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Chhatra Mani Sharma
- Himalayan Environment Research Institute (HERI), Kathmandu, Nepal; Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Shichang Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
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21
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Ali B, Sajjad W, Ghimire PS, Shengyun C, Minghui W, Kang S. Culture-dependent diversity of bacteria from Laohugou glacier, Qilian Mts., China and their resistance against metals. J Basic Microbiol 2019; 59:1065-1081. [PMID: 31556143 DOI: 10.1002/jobm.201900385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2019] [Revised: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 09/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In the current study, psychrophilic, endolithic, and epilithic bacterial strains were isolated and characterized from the nonpolar Laohugou glacier (LHG) no. 12, the largest valley glacier in the western Qilian Mts. located on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Five different types of samples, rocks, soil, glacial water, ice/snow, and cryoconite, were collected. A total of 48 bacterial strains were isolated by using the R2A bacterial cultural medium. The findings revealed that the Gram-positive bacteria 41 (85.4%) dominated the Gram-negative bacteria 7 (14.6%) in this extremely harsh environment. Molecular characterization based on 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing exhibited that the obtained isolates belong to four phyla, among which the diversity of Firmicutes (58.33%) was higher followed by Actinobacteria (23.0%), Proteobacteria (14.6%), and least diversity was reported in Euryarchaeota (4.2%). The bacterial communities were most dominant in soil samples followed by cryoconite sample and least dominant in the ice and snow samples. Moreover, the obtained bacterial isolates were found resistant to high concentrations of heavy metals (Cr3+ , Cd2+ , Hg2+ , and Ar3+ ) and sodium chloride, and, therefore, exhibited polyextremophilic characteristics. LHG no. 12 is rich in bacterial and archaeal diversities and provides a potentially curious site for further in-depth exploration of microbial diversity and their biotechnological applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barkat Ali
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Wasim Sajjad
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Prakriti Sharma Ghimire
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.,Himalayan Environment Research Institute (HERI), Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Chen Shengyun
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Wu Minghui
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Shichang Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, China
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22
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Kang S, Zhang Q, Qian Y, Ji Z, Li C, Cong Z, Zhang Y, Guo J, Du W, Huang J, You Q, Panday AK, Rupakheti M, Chen D, Gustafsson Ö, Thiemens MH, Qin D. Linking atmospheric pollution to cryospheric change in the Third Pole region: current progress and future prospects. Natl Sci Rev 2019; 6:796-809. [PMID: 34691935 PMCID: PMC8291388 DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwz031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Revised: 12/05/2018] [Accepted: 03/05/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings are known as the Third Pole (TP). This region is noted for its high rates of glacier melt and the associated hydrological shifts that affect water supplies in Asia. Atmospheric pollutants contribute to climatic and cryospheric changes through their effects on solar radiation and the albedos of snow and ice surfaces; moreover, the behavior and fates within the cryosphere and environmental impacts of environmental pollutants are topics of increasing concern. In this review, we introduce a coordinated monitoring and research framework and network to link atmospheric pollution and cryospheric changes (APCC) within the TP region. We then provide an up-to-date summary of progress and achievements related to the APCC research framework, including aspects of atmospheric pollution's composition and concentration, spatial and temporal variations, trans-boundary transport pathways and mechanisms, and effects on the warming of atmosphere and changing in Indian monsoon, as well as melting of glacier and snow cover. We highlight that exogenous air pollutants can enter into the TP's environments and cause great impacts on regional climatic and environmental changes. At last, we propose future research priorities and map out an extended program at the global scale. The ongoing monitoring activities and research facilitate comprehensive studies of atmosphere-cryosphere interactions, represent one of China's key research expeditions to the TP and the polar regions and contribute to the global perspective of earth system science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shichang Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Qianggong Zhang
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Yun Qian
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland WA 99352, USA
| | - Zhenming Ji
- School of Atmospheric Sciences, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Climate Change and Natural Disaster Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Chaoliu Li
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Zhiyuan Cong
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Yulan Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Junming Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Wentao Du
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Jie Huang
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Qinglong You
- Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education (KLME), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), Nanjing 210044, China
| | - Arnico K Panday
- International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu G. P. O. 3226, Nepal
| | - Maheswar Rupakheti
- Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam 14467, Germany
| | - Deliang Chen
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg SE-405 30, Sweden
| | - Örjan Gustafsson
- Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden
| | - Mark H Thiemens
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA
| | - Dahe Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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23
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Liu Q, Liu HC, Zhou YG, Xin YH. Microevolution and Adaptive Strategy of Psychrophilic Species Flavobacterium bomense sp. nov. Isolated From Glaciers. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:1069. [PMID: 31178833 PMCID: PMC6538692 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2019] [Accepted: 04/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous mountain glaciers located on the Tibetan Plateau are inhabited by abundant microorganisms. The microorganisms on the glacier surface are exposed to the cold, barren, and high-ultraviolet radiation environments. Although the microbial community composition on glaciers has been revealed by high-throughput sequencing, little is known about the microevolution and adaptive strategy of certain bacterial populations. In this study, we used a polyphasic approach to determine the taxonomic status of 11 psychrophilic Flavobacterium strains isolated from glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau and performed a comparative genomic analysis. The phylogenetic tree based on the concatenated single-copy gene sequences showed the 11 strains clustered together, forming a distinct and novel clade in the genus Flavobacterium. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) values among these strains were higher than 96%. However, the values much lower than 90% between them and related species indicated that they represent a novel species and the name Flavobacterium bomense sp. nov. is proposed. The core and accessory genomes of strains in this new Flavobacterium species showed diverse distinct patterns of gene content and metabolism pathway. In order to infer the driving evolutionary forces of the core genomes, homologous recombination was found to contribute twice as much to nucleotide substitutions as mutations. A series of genes encoding proteins with known or predicted roles in cold adaptation were found in their genomes, for example, cold-shock protein, proteorhodopsin, osmoprotection, and membrane-related proteins. A comparative analysis of the group with optimal growth temperature (OGT) ≤ 20°C and the group with OGT > 20°C of the 32 Flavobacterium type strains and 11 new strains revealed multiple amino acid substitutions, including the decrease of the proline and glutamine content and the increase of the methionine and isoleucine content in the group with OGT ≤ 20°C, which may contribute to increased protein flexibility at low temperatures. Thus, this study discovered a novel Flavobacterium species in glaciers, which has high intraspecific diversity and multiple adaptation mechanisms that enable them to cope and thrive in extreme habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Liu
- China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hong-Can Liu
- China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yu-Guang Zhou
- China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yu-Hua Xin
- China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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24
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Moore JE, McCaughan J, Stirling J, Bell J, Millar BC. Snow angels - the microbiology of freshly fallen snow: implications for immunocompromised patients. JOURNAL OF WATER AND HEALTH 2018; 16:1029-1032. [PMID: 30540276 DOI: 10.2166/wh.2018.156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The frequency of seasonal snowfall results in the transient covering of gardens/amenity sites/open public spaces, which encourages recreational interaction mainly with children. No data is available demonstrating the microbiological composition of such fallen snow and therefore a study was undertaken to examine the microbiology of snow from 37 sites, estimating (i) total viable count (TVC), (ii) identification of bacteria, and (iii) the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Mean TVC count of 8.3 colony-forming units (cfu)/ml snow melt water, 51.7 cfu/ml, 865 cfu/ml and 2,197 cfu/ml, was obtained for public amenity sites, domestic gardens, public open spaces and melting snow from public footpaths, respectively. No bacterial organisms (<10 cfu/ml) were detected in 5/14 (35.7%) open public spaces, 2/5 (40%) amenity sites and in 1/10 (10%) domestic gardens. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was not detected from any snow sample examined. Bacterial diversity consisted of 15 bacterial species (11 Gram-positive/four Gram-negative). The six Gram-positive genera identified from snow were Actinomyces, Bacillus, Brevibacillus, Micrococcus, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. The four Gram-negative genera identified were Enterobacter, Pantoea, Pseudomonas and Xanthomonas. Bacillus licheniformis was the most commonly isolated organism from snow; it was isolated from every snow type. Snow may contain a diverse range of bacteria, many of which are capable of causing human infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- John E Moore
- Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratory, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City Hospital, Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT9 7AD, UK E-mail: ; School of Biomedical Sciences, Ulster University, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, Northern Ireland, UK and Centre for Experimental Medicine, Queen's University, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - John McCaughan
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Grosvenor Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Jonathan Stirling
- Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratory, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City Hospital, Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT9 7AD, UK E-mail:
| | - Jane Bell
- Northern Ireland Regional Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Centre, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Royal Group of Hospitals, Falls Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - B Cherie Millar
- Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratory, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City Hospital, Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT9 7AD, UK E-mail: ; School of Biomedical Sciences, Ulster University, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, Northern Ireland, UK and Centre for Experimental Medicine, Queen's University, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, UK
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25
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Zhong ZP, Solonenko NE, Gazitúa MC, Kenny DV, Mosley-Thompson E, Rich VI, Van Etten JL, Thompson LG, Sullivan MB. Clean Low-Biomass Procedures and Their Application to Ancient Ice Core Microorganisms. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:1094. [PMID: 29910780 PMCID: PMC5992382 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2017] [Accepted: 05/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Microorganisms in glacier ice provide tens to hundreds of thousands of years archive for a changing climate and microbial responses to it. Analyzing ancient ice is impeded by technical issues, including limited ice, low biomass, and contamination. While many approaches have been evaluated and advanced to remove contaminants on ice core surfaces, few studies leverage modern sequencing to establish in silico decontamination protocols for glacier ice. Here we sought to apply such “clean” sampling techniques with in silico decontamination approaches used elsewhere to investigate microorganisms archived in ice at ∼41 (D41, ∼20,000 years) and ∼49 m (D49, ∼30,000 years) depth in an ice core (GS3) from the summit of the Guliya ice cap in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau. Four “background” controls were established – a co-processed sterile water artificial ice core, two air samples collected from the ice processing laboratories, and a blank, sterile water sample – and used to assess contaminant microbial diversity and abundances. Amplicon sequencing revealed 29 microbial genera in these controls, but quantitative PCR showed that the controls contained about 50–100-times less 16S DNA than the glacial ice samples. As in prior work, we interpreted these low-abundance taxa in controls as “contaminants” and proportionally removed them in silico from the GS3 ice amplicon data. Because of the low biomass in the controls, we also compared prokaryotic 16S DNA amplicons from pre-amplified (by re-conditioning PCR) and standard amplicon sequencing, and found the resulting microbial profiles to be repeatable and nearly identical. Ecologically, the contaminant-controlled ice microbial profiles revealed significantly different microorganisms across the two depths in the GS3 ice core, which is consistent with changing climate, as reported for other glacier ice samples. Many GS3 ice core genera, including Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, Flavobacterium, Janthinobacterium, Polaromonas, and Rhodobacter, were also abundant in previously studied ice cores, which suggests wide distribution across glacier environments. Together these findings help further establish “clean” procedures for studying low-biomass ice microbial communities and contribute to a baseline understanding of microorganisms archived in glacier ice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi-Ping Zhong
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.,Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Natalie E Solonenko
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Maria C Gazitúa
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Donald V Kenny
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Ellen Mosley-Thompson
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.,Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Virginia I Rich
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.,Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
| | - James L Van Etten
- Department of Plant Pathology and Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | - Lonnie G Thompson
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.,School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.,Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
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26
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Liu Q, Xin YH, Zhou YG, Chen WX. Multilocus sequence analysis of homologous recombination and diversity in Arthrobacter sensu lato named species and glacier-inhabiting strains. Syst Appl Microbiol 2017; 41:23-29. [PMID: 29129356 DOI: 10.1016/j.syapm.2017.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2017] [Revised: 07/30/2017] [Accepted: 08/19/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Members of the bacterial genus Arthrobacter sensu lato are Gram-positive actinomycetes distributed worldwide and found in numerous environments including soil, water, glacier ice, and sewage. Homologous recombination is an important driving force in bacterial evolution, but its impact on Arthrobacter sensu lato evolution is poorly understood. We evaluated homologous recombination among 41 Arthrobacter sensu lato named species, using multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA). A high level of recombination was found, associated with strong diversification and a reticulate evolutionary pattern of Arthrobacter sensu lato. We also collected a total of 31 cold-adapted Arthrobacter sensu lato strains from two cold glaciers located in northwest China and two temperate glaciers in southwest China, and evaluated their diversity and population structure by MLSA. The glacier strains displayed high diversity, but rates of recombination among the four glacier groups were quite low, indicating that barriers to homologous recombination formed in the past among the populations on different glaciers. Our findings indicate that historical glaciation events shaped the contemporary distributions, taxonomic relationships, and phylogeographic patterns of Arthrobacter sensu lato species on glaciers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Liu
- China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Yu-Hua Xin
- China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
| | - Yu-Guang Zhou
- China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Wen-Xin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
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27
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Rafiq M, Hayat M, Anesio AM, Jamil SUU, Hassan N, Shah AA, Hasan F. Recovery of metallo-tolerant and antibiotic resistant psychrophilic bacteria from Siachen glacier, Pakistan. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0178180. [PMID: 28746396 PMCID: PMC5528264 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2017] [Accepted: 05/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cultureable bacterial diversity of previously unexplored Siachen glacier, Pakistan, was studied. Out of 50 isolates 33 (66%) were Gram negative and 17 (34%) Gram positive. About half of the isolates were pigment producers and were able to grow at 4-37°C. 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed Gram negative bacteria dominated by Proteobacteria (especially γ-proteobacteria and β-proteobacteria) and Flavobacteria. The genus Pseudomonas (51.51%, 17) was dominant among γ- proteobacteria. β-proteobacteria constituted 4 (12.12%) Alcaligenes and 4 (12.12%) Janthinobacterium strains. Among Gram positive bacteria, phylum Actinobacteria, Rhodococcus (23.52%, 4) and Arthrobacter (23.52%, 4) were the dominating genra. Other bacteria belonged to Phylum Firmicutes with representative genus Carnobacterium (11.76%, 2) and 4 isolates represented 4 genera Bacillus, Lysinibacillus, Staphylococcus and Planomicrobium. Most of the Gram negative bacteria were moderate halophiles, while most of the Gram positives were extreme halophiles and were able to grow up to 6.12 M of NaCl. More than 2/3 of the isolates showed antimicrobial activity against multidrug resistant S. aureus, E. coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterococcus faecium, Candida albicans, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus fumigatus and ATCC strains. Gram positive bacteria (94.11%) were more resistant to heavy metals as compared to Gram negative (78.79%) and showed maximum tolerance against iron and least tolerance against mercury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Rafiq
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
- Department of Microbiology, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Pakistan
- Bristol Glaciology Centre, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Muhammad Hayat
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Alexandre M. Anesio
- Bristol Glaciology Centre, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Syed Umair Ullah Jamil
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Noor Hassan
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Aamer Ali Shah
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Fariha Hasan
- Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
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28
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Xing T, Liu Y, Wang N, Xu B, Shen L, Liu K, Gu Z, Guo B, Zhou Y, Liu H. Polymorphobacter glacialis sp. nov., isolated from ice core. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2017; 67:617-620. [PMID: 27902289 DOI: 10.1099/ijsem.0.001672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A Gram-stain-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, B555-2T, was isolated from an ice core drilled from Muztagh Glacier on the Tibetan Plateau, China. According to phylogenetic analysis with 16S rRNA gene sequences, the novel strain was most closely related to Polymorphobacter fuscus D40PT and Polymorphobacter multimanifer 262-7T with 98.4 and 96.9 % similarity, respectively. It grew optimally at pH 7 and 15 °C with 0.6 % NaCl (m/v). Carotenoid was detected from the cells. Major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, sphingoglycolipid, phophatidylmonomethy lethanolamine, phophatidylcholine. The major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH) (42.8 %), summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) (28.8 %), C14 : 0 2-OH (10.1 %) and C16 : 0 (8.2 %). The predominant ubiquinone was Q-10. The DNA G+C content was 62.1 mol%. In DNA-DNA hybridization tests, strain B555-2T shared 21.9 and 18.6 % DNA-DNA relatedness with P. fuscus D40PT and P.multimanifer 262-7T, respectively. Accordingly, strain B555-2T represents a novel species in the genus Polymorphobacter, for which the name Polymorphobacter glacialis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is B555-2T (=CGMCC 1.15519T=KCTC 52396T).
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Affiliation(s)
- Tingting Xing
- Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Yongqin Liu
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Ninglian Wang
- College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, PR China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Baiqing Xu
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Liang Shen
- Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Keshao Liu
- Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Zhengquan Gu
- Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Bixi Guo
- Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Yuguang Zhou
- Institute of Microbiology, China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Hongcan Liu
- Institute of Microbiology, China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
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29
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Feng L, Xu J, Kang S, Li X, Li Y, Jiang B, Shi Q. Chemical Composition of Microbe-Derived Dissolved Organic Matter in Cryoconite in Tibetan Plateau Glaciers: Insights from Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry Analysis. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2016; 50:13215-13223. [PMID: 27993037 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b03971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Cryoconite in mountain glaciers plays important roles in glacial ablation and biogeochemical cycles. In this study, the composition and sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in cryoconite from the ablation regions of two Tibetan Plateau glaciers were determined using electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) and fluorescence spectrometry. A marked absorbance between 300 and 350 nm in the DOM absorption spectra was observed which was consistent with microbe-derived mycosporine-like amino acids. Fluorescence excitation-emission matrices showed that DOM had intense signals at protein-like substance peaks and weak signals at humic-like substance peaks. The high-resolution mass spectra of FT-ICR-MS showed cryoconite DOM from both glaciers contained diverse lignins, lipids, proteins, and unsaturated hydrocarbons. The lipids and proteins were consistent with material from microbial sources, and the lignins and unsaturated hydrocarbons were probably from vascular plant material supplied in atmospheric aerosols and debris from around the glaciers. Almost one-third of the identified DOM molecules had low C/N ratios (≤20), indicating their high bioavailability. Using a conservative cryoconite distribution on Chinese mountain glacier surfaces (6%) and an average debris mass per square meter of cryoconite (292 ± 196 g m-2), we found that the amount of DOC produced in cryoconite on Chinese glaciers as much as 0.23 ± 0.1 Gg per cryoconite formation process. This dissolved organic carbon may absorb solar radiation, accelerate glacial melting, and be an important source of bioavailable DOM to proglacial and downstream aquatic ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Jianzhong Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Shichang Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Xiaofei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Yang Li
- Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100101, China
| | - Bin Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum , Beijing 102249, China
| | - Quan Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum , Beijing 102249, China
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30
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Yang GL, Hou SG, Le Baoge R, Li ZG, Xu H, Liu YP, Du WT, Liu YQ. Differences in Bacterial Diversity and Communities Between Glacial Snow and Glacial Soil on the Chongce Ice Cap, West Kunlun Mountains. Sci Rep 2016; 6:36548. [PMID: 27811967 PMCID: PMC5109912 DOI: 10.1038/srep36548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2016] [Accepted: 10/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
A detailed understanding of microbial ecology in different supraglacial habitats is important due to the unprecedented speed of glacier retreat. Differences in bacterial diversity and community structure between glacial snow and glacial soil on the Chongce Ice Cap were assessed using 454 pyrosequencing. Based on rarefaction curves, Chao1, ACE, and Shannon indices, we found that bacterial diversity in glacial snow was lower than that in glacial soil. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and heatmap analysis indicated that there were major differences in bacterial communities between glacial snow and glacial soil. Most bacteria were different between the two habitats; however, there were some common bacteria shared between glacial snow and glacial soil. Some rare or functional bacterial resources were also present in the Chongce Ice Cap. These findings provide a preliminary understanding of the shifts in bacterial diversity and communities from glacial snow to glacial soil after the melting and inflow of glacial snow into glacial soil.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guang Li Yang
- Department of Life Science, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, China
| | - Shu Gui Hou
- School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Ri Le Baoge
- Department of Life Science, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, China
| | - Zhi Guo Li
- Department of Environment and Planning, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, China
| | - Hao Xu
- School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Ya Ping Liu
- Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Wen Tao Du
- Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Yong Qin Liu
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
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31
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Yausheva Е, Sizova Е, Lebedev S, Skalny A, Miroshnikov S, Plotnikov A, Khlopko Y, Gogoleva N, Cherkasov S. Influence of zinc nanoparticles on survival of worms Eisenia fetida and taxonomic diversity of the gut microflora. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2016; 23:13245-54. [PMID: 27023811 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-6474-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2015] [Accepted: 03/14/2016] [Indexed: 04/16/2023]
Abstract
The study was conducted to examine the effect of zinc nanoparticles on survival of worms Eisenia fetida and composition of the gut microflora. Analysis of the survival data has shown that the introduction of high doses of the nanoparticles causes death of worms in the second group with 35 % mortality rate and activates protective mechanisms realized as mucous film. DNA from the worm guts was extracted and 16S metagenomic sequencing was fulfilled using MiSeq (Illumina). Regarding the gut microflora of worms in the control group, high diversity of microorganisms (303 OTUs) was noted. Most of those belong to the taxa Firmicutes (51.9 % of the total high-quality united reads), Proteobacteria (24.1 % of the total), and Actinobacteria (13.3 % of the total), which were represented by numerous species of gen. Clostridium (C. saccharobutylicum, C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum, C. beijerinckii), gen. Pseudomonas (P. hydrogenovora, P. aeruginosa, and P. putida), gen. Bacillus (B. megaterium, B. silvestris), gen. Cellulomonas (B. megaterium, B. silvestris), and other numerically smaller genera. Adding of zinc nanoparticles to the substrate decreased the diversity of bacteria (78 OTUs) as well as percentage of bacteria belonging to the taxon Firmicutes (-41.6 %) and increased the proportion of Proteobacteria due to growth in abundance of gen. Verminephrobacter (+46 %) and gen. Ochrobactrum (+19.5 %).
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Affiliation(s)
- Еlena Yausheva
- All-Russian Research Institute of Beef Cattle Breeding, 29, 9-Yanvarya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000.
| | - Еlena Sizova
- Orenburg State University, Pobedy pr. 13, Orenburg, Russia, 460018
- All-Russian Research Institute of Beef Cattle Breeding, 29, 9-Yanvarya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000
| | - Svyatoslav Lebedev
- Orenburg State University, Pobedy pr. 13, Orenburg, Russia, 460018
- All-Russian Research Institute of Beef Cattle Breeding, 29, 9-Yanvarya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000
| | - Anatoliy Skalny
- Orenburg State University, Pobedy pr. 13, Orenburg, Russia, 460018
| | - Sergey Miroshnikov
- All-Russian Research Institute of Beef Cattle Breeding, 29, 9-Yanvarya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000
| | - Andrey Plotnikov
- Institute for Cellular and Intracellular Symbiosis UB RAS, 11, Pionerskaya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000
| | - Yuri Khlopko
- Institute for Cellular and Intracellular Symbiosis UB RAS, 11, Pionerskaya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000
| | - Natalia Gogoleva
- Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics RAS, 2/31 Lobachevskogo Street, Kazan, Russia, 420111
| | - Sergey Cherkasov
- Institute for Cellular and Intracellular Symbiosis UB RAS, 11, Pionerskaya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000
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Wunderlin T, Ferrari B, Power M. Global and local-scale variation in bacterial community structure of snow from the Swiss and Australian Alps. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2016; 92:fiw132. [PMID: 27297721 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiw132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Seasonally, snow environments cover up to 50% of the land's surface, yet the microbial diversity and ecosystem functioning within snow, particularly from alpine regions are not well described. This study explores the bacterial diversity in snow using next-generation sequencing technology. Our data expand the global inventory of snow microbiomes by focusing on two understudied regions, the Swiss Alps and the Australian Alps. A total biomass similar to cell numbers in polar snow was detected, with 5.2 to 10.5 × 10(3) cells mL(-1) of snow. We found that microbial community structure of surface snow varied by country and site and along the altitudinal range (alpine and sub-alpine). The bacterial communities present were diverse, spanning 25 distinct phyla, but the six phyla Proteobacteria (Alpha- and Betaproteobacteria), Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria and Firmicutes, accounted for 72%-98% of the total relative abundance. Taxa such as Acidobacteriaceae and Methylocystaceae, associated with cold soils, may be part of the atmospherically sourced snow community, while families like Sphingomonadaceae were detected in every snow sample and are likely part of the common snow biome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina Wunderlin
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, NSW, Australia Molecular Ecology, Institute for Sustainability Sciences, Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Belinda Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Australia, Randwick, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia
| | - Michelle Power
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, NSW, Australia
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Lopatina A, Medvedeva S, Shmakov S, Logacheva MD, Krylenkov V, Severinov K. Metagenomic Analysis of Bacterial Communities of Antarctic Surface Snow. Front Microbiol 2016; 7:398. [PMID: 27064693 PMCID: PMC4814470 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2015] [Accepted: 03/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The diversity of bacteria present in surface snow around four Russian stations in Eastern Antarctica was studied by high throughput sequencing of amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments and shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Considerable class- and genus-level variation between the samples was revealed indicating a presence of inter-site diversity of bacteria in Antarctic snow. Flavobacterium was a major genus in one sampling site and was also detected in other sites. The diversity of flavobacterial type II-C CRISPR spacers in the samples was investigated by metagenome sequencing. Thousands of unique spacers were revealed with less than 35% overlap between the sampling sites, indicating an enormous natural variety of flavobacterial CRISPR spacers and, by extension, high level of adaptive activity of the corresponding CRISPR-Cas system. None of the spacers matched known spacers of flavobacterial isolates from the Northern hemisphere. Moreover, the percentage of spacers with matches with Antarctic metagenomic sequences obtained in this work was significantly higher than with sequences from much larger publically available environmental metagenomic database. The results indicate that despite the overall very high level of diversity, Antarctic Flavobacteria comprise a separate pool that experiences pressures from mobile genetic elements different from those present in other parts of the world. The results also establish analysis of metagenomic CRISPR spacer content as a powerful tool to study bacterial populations diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Lopatina
- Department of Molecular Genetics of Cell, Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of SciencesMoscow, Russia; Department of Molecular Genetics of Microorganisms, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of SciencesMoscow, Russia; Research Complex of "Nanobiotechnology", Saint-Petersburg State Polytechnical UniversitySaint-Petersburg, Russia
| | - Sofia Medvedeva
- Department of Molecular Genetics of Microorganisms, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of SciencesMoscow, Russia; Center for Data-Intensive Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Skolkovo Institute of Science and TechnologySkolkovo, Russia
| | - Sergey Shmakov
- Center for Data-Intensive Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology Skolkovo, Russia
| | - Maria D Logacheva
- Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University Moscow, Russia
| | - Vjacheslav Krylenkov
- Department of Botany, Saint-Petersburg State University Saint-Petersburg, Russia
| | - Konstantin Severinov
- Department of Molecular Genetics of Cell, Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of SciencesMoscow, Russia; Research Complex of "Nanobiotechnology", Saint-Petersburg State Polytechnical UniversitySaint-Petersburg, Russia; Center for Data-Intensive Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Skolkovo Institute of Science and TechnologySkolkovo, Russia
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34
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Liu Q, Zhou YG, Xin YH. High diversity and distinctive community structure of bacteria on glaciers in China revealed by 454 pyrosequencing. Syst Appl Microbiol 2015; 38:578-85. [DOI: 10.1016/j.syapm.2015.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2015] [Revised: 09/15/2015] [Accepted: 09/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Yang J, Li X, Huang L, Jiang H. Actinobacterial Diversity in the Sediments of Five Cold Springs on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Front Microbiol 2015; 6:1345. [PMID: 26648925 PMCID: PMC4663260 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.01345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2015] [Accepted: 11/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The actinobacterial diversity was investigated in the sediments of five cold springs in Wuli region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau using 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analysis. The actinobacterial communities of the studied cold springs were diverse and the obtained actinobacterial operational taxonomic units were classified into 12 actinobacterial orders (e.g., Acidimicrobiales, Corynebacteriales, Gaiellales, Geodermatophilales, Jiangellales, Kineosporiales, Micromonosporales, Micrococcales, Nakamurellales, Propionibacteriales, Pseudonocardiales, Streptomycetales) and unclassified Actinobacteria. The actinobacterial composition varied among the investigated cold springs and were significantly correlated (r = 0.748, P = 0.021) to environmental variables. The actinobacterial communities in the cold springs were more diverse than other cold habitats on the Tibetan Plateau, and their compositions showed unique geographical distribution characteristics. Statistical analyses showed that biogeographical isolation and unique environmental conditions might be major factors influencing actinobacterial distribution among the investigated cold springs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences Wuhan, China
| | - Xiaoyan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences Wuhan, China
| | - Liuqin Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences Wuhan, China
| | - Hongchen Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences Wuhan, China
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Maccario L, Sanguino L, Vogel TM, Larose C. Snow and ice ecosystems: not so extreme. Res Microbiol 2015; 166:782-95. [PMID: 26408452 DOI: 10.1016/j.resmic.2015.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2015] [Revised: 09/02/2015] [Accepted: 09/11/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Snow and ice environments cover up to 21% of the Earth's surface. They have been regarded as extreme environments because of their low temperatures, high UV irradiation, low nutrients and low water availability, and thus, their microbial activity has not been considered relevant from a global microbial ecology viewpoint. In this review, we focus on why snow and ice habitats might not be extreme from a microbiological perspective. Microorganisms interact closely with the abiotic conditions imposed by snow and ice habitats by having diverse adaptations, that include genetic resistance mechanisms, to different types of stresses in addition to inhabiting various niches where these potential stresses might be reduced. The microbial communities inhabiting snow and ice are not only abundant and taxonomically diverse, but complex in terms of their interactions. Altogether, snow and ice seem to be true ecosystems with a role in global biogeochemical cycles that has likely been underestimated. Future work should expand past resistance studies to understanding the function of these ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorrie Maccario
- Environmental Microbial Genomics, Laboratoire Ampère, CNRS UMR 5005, Université de Lyon, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 36 Avenue Guy de Collongue, 69134 Ecully, France
| | - Laura Sanguino
- Environmental Microbial Genomics, Laboratoire Ampère, CNRS UMR 5005, Université de Lyon, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 36 Avenue Guy de Collongue, 69134 Ecully, France
| | - Timothy M Vogel
- Environmental Microbial Genomics, Laboratoire Ampère, CNRS UMR 5005, Université de Lyon, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 36 Avenue Guy de Collongue, 69134 Ecully, France
| | - Catherine Larose
- Environmental Microbial Genomics, Laboratoire Ampère, CNRS UMR 5005, Université de Lyon, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 36 Avenue Guy de Collongue, 69134 Ecully, France.
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37
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Bacterial diversity of Drass, cold desert in Western Himalaya, and its comparison with Antarctic and Arctic. Arch Microbiol 2015; 197:851-60. [PMID: 26055487 DOI: 10.1007/s00203-015-1121-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2015] [Revised: 05/12/2015] [Accepted: 05/19/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Drass is the coldest inhabited place in India and the second coldest, inhabited place in the world, after Siberia. Using the 16SrDNA amplicon pyrosequencing, bacterial diversity patterns were cataloged across the Drass cold desert. In order to identify the ecotype abundance across cold desert environment, bacterial diversity patterns of Drass were further compared with the bacterial diversity of two other cold deserts, i.e., Antarctic and Arctic. Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes were among the highly abundant taxonomic groups present across all the three cold deserts and were designated as the core phyla. However, Firmicutes, Nitrospirae, Armatimonadetes (former candidate division OP10), Planctomycetes, TM7, Chloroflexi, Deinococcus-Thermus, Tenericutes and candidate phyla WS3 were identified as rare phyla in Drass, Antarctic and Arctic samples. Differential abundance patterns were also computed across all the three samples, i.e., Acidobacteria (32.1 %) were dominant in Drass and Firmicutes (52.9 ± 17.6 %) and Proteobacteria (42 ± 1.3 %) were dominant in Antarctic and Arctic reference samples, respectively. Alpha diversity values Shannon's (H) and Simpson's (1-D) diversity indices were highest for Antarctic samples, whereas richness estimators (ACE and Chao1) were maximum for Drass soil suggesting greater species richness in bacterial communities in Drass than the Antarctic and Arctic samples.
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38
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Wang M, Jiang X, Wu W, Hao Y, Su Y, Cai L, Xiang M, Liu X. Psychrophilic fungi from the world's roof. PERSOONIA 2015; 34:100-12. [PMID: 26240448 PMCID: PMC4510274 DOI: 10.3767/003158515x685878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2013] [Accepted: 03/05/2014] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
During a survey of cold-adapted fungi in alpine glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, 1 428 fungal isolates were obtained of which 150 species were preliminary identified. Phoma sclerotioides and Pseudogymnoascus pannorum were the most dominant species. Psychrotolerant species in Helotiales (Leotiomycetes, Ascomycota) were studied in more detail as they represented the most commonly encountered group during this investigation. Two phylogenetic trees were constructed based on the partial large subunit nrDNA (LSU) to infer the taxonomic placements of these strains. Our strains nested in two well-supported major clades, which represented Tetracladium and a previously unknown lineage. The unknown lineage is distant to any other currently known genera in Helotiales. Psychrophila gen. nov. was therefore established to accommodate these strains which are characterised by globose or subglobose conidia formed from phialides on short or reduced conidiophores. Our analysis also showed that an LSU-based phylogeny is insufficient in differentiating strains at species level. Additional analyses using combined sequences of ITS+TEF1+TUB regions were employed to further investigate the phylogenetic relationships of these strains. Together with the recognisable morphological distinctions, six new species (i.e. P. antarctica, P. lutea, P. olivacea, T. ellipsoideum, T. globosum and T. psychrophilum) were described. Our preliminary investigation indicates a high diversity of cold-adapted species in nature, and many of them may represent unknown species.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 1st Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - X. Jiang
- Novozymes (China) Investment Co. Ltd., China Headquarters, 14 Xinxi Road, Shangdi Zone, Haidian District, 100085 Beijing, China
| | - W. Wu
- Novozymes (China) Investment Co. Ltd., China Headquarters, 14 Xinxi Road, Shangdi Zone, Haidian District, 100085 Beijing, China
| | - Y. Hao
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 1st Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Y. Su
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 1st Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
| | - L. Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 1st Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
| | - M. Xiang
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 1st Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
| | - X. Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 1st Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
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39
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Venkatachalam S, Gowdaman V, Prabagaran SR. Culturable and culture-independent bacterial diversity and the prevalence of cold-adapted enzymes from the Himalayan mountain ranges of India and Nepal. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2015; 69:472-91. [PMID: 25204748 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-014-0476-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2014] [Accepted: 07/28/2014] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Bacterial diversity of soil samples collected from different geographical regions of Himalayan mountains was studied through culturable (13 samples) and culture-independent approaches (5 samples based on abundance of diversity indices in each ecological niche). Shannon-Wiener diversity index and total bacterial count ranged from 1.50 ± 0.1 to 2.57 ± 0.15 and 7.8 ± 1.6 × 10(5) to 30.9 ± 1.7 × 10(5) cfu ml(-1) of soil, respectively. Based on morphology and pigmentation, 406 isolates were selected by culturing in different cultivable media at various strengths and concentrations. All the strains were subjected to amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis and the representative isolates from each cluster were chosen for 16S rRNA gene sequence-based identification. Soil habitat in Himalayan foot hills was dominated by the genera Arthrobacter, Exiguobacterium, Bacillus, Cedecea, Erwinia, and Pseudomonas. Five 16S rRNA gene libraries from the selected five samples yielded 268 clones and were grouped into 53 phylotypes covering 25 genera including the genus of Ferribacterium, Rothia, and Wautersiella, which were reported for the first time in Himalayan tracks. Principal coordinates analysis indicates that all the clone libraries were clearly separated and found to be significantly different from each other. Further, extracellular investigation of cold-active enzymes showed activity of cellulase (23.71%), pectinase (20.24%), amylase (17.32%), phytase (13.87%), protease (12.72%), and lipase (23.71%) among the isolates. Four isolates namely Exiguobacterium mexicanum (BSa14), Exiguobacterium sibiricum (BZa11), Micrococcus antarcticus (BSb10), and Bacillus simplex (BZb3) showed multiple enzyme activity for five different types of enzymes. In addition, various genera like Exiguobacterium, Erwinia, Mycetecola, Cedecea, Pantoea, and Trichococcus have also shown novel hydrolytic enzyme activity in the Himalayan foothills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siddarthan Venkatachalam
- Molecular Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641046, Tamil Nadu, India
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40
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Stibal M, Gözdereliler E, Cameron KA, Box JE, Stevens IT, Gokul JK, Schostag M, Zarsky JD, Edwards A, Irvine-Fynn TDL, Jacobsen CS. Microbial abundance in surface ice on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Front Microbiol 2015; 6:225. [PMID: 25852678 PMCID: PMC4371753 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2015] [Accepted: 03/06/2015] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Measuring microbial abundance in glacier ice and identifying its controls is essential for a better understanding and quantification of biogeochemical processes in glacial ecosystems. However, cell enumeration of glacier ice samples is challenging due to typically low cell numbers and the presence of interfering mineral particles. We quantified for the first time the abundance of microbial cells in surface ice from geographically distinct sites on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS), using three enumeration methods: epifluorescence microscopy (EFM), flow cytometry (FCM), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). In addition, we reviewed published data on microbial abundance in glacier ice and tested the three methods on artificial ice samples of realistic cell (102–107 cells ml−1) and mineral particle (0.1–100 mg ml−1) concentrations, simulating a range of glacial ice types, from clean subsurface ice to surface ice to sediment-laden basal ice. We then used multivariate statistical analysis to identify factors responsible for the variation in microbial abundance on the ice sheet. EFM gave the most accurate and reproducible results of the tested methodologies, and was therefore selected as the most suitable technique for cell enumeration of ice containing dust. Cell numbers in surface ice samples, determined by EFM, ranged from ~ 2 × 103 to ~ 2 × 106 cells ml−1 while dust concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 2 mg ml−1. The lowest abundances were found in ice sampled from the accumulation area of the ice sheet and in samples affected by fresh snow; these samples may be considered as a reference point of the cell abundance of precipitants that are deposited on the ice sheet surface. Dust content was the most significant variable to explain the variation in the abundance data, which suggests a direct association between deposited dust particles and cells and/or by their provision of limited nutrients to microbial communities on the GrIS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marek Stibal
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Copenhagen, Denmark ; Center for Permafrost, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark ; Department of Ecology, Charles University in Prague Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Erkin Gözdereliler
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Copenhagen, Denmark ; Center for Permafrost, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Karen A Cameron
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Copenhagen, Denmark ; Center for Permafrost, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jason E Box
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ian T Stevens
- Centre for Glaciology, Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth, UK
| | | | - Morten Schostag
- Center for Permafrost, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jakub D Zarsky
- Department of Ecology, Charles University in Prague Prague, Czech Republic ; Centre for Polar Ecology, University of South Bohemia České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Arwyn Edwards
- Centre for Glaciology, Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth, UK
| | | | - Carsten S Jacobsen
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Copenhagen, Denmark ; Center for Permafrost, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark ; Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark
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Musilova M, Tranter M, Bennett SA, Wadham J, Anesio AM. Stable microbial community composition on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Front Microbiol 2015; 6:193. [PMID: 25852658 PMCID: PMC4367435 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2014] [Accepted: 02/23/2015] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The first molecular-based studies of microbes in snow and on glaciers have only recently been performed on the vast Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). Aeolian microbial seeding is hypothesized to impact on glacier surface community compositions. Localized melting of glacier debris (cryoconite) into the surface ice forms cryoconite holes, which are considered ‘hot spots’ for microbial activity on glaciers. To date, few studies have attempted to assess the origin and evolution of cryoconite and cryoconite hole communities throughout a melt season. In this study, a range of experimental approaches was used for the first time to study the inputs, temporal and structural transformations of GrIS microbial communities over the course of a whole ablation season. Small amounts of aeolian (wind and snow) microbes were potentially seeding the stable communities that were already present on the glacier (composed mainly of Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Actinobacteria). However, the dominant bacterial taxa in the aeolian samples (Firmicutes) did not establish themselves in local glacier surface communities. Cryoconite and cryoconite hole community composition remained stable throughout the ablation season following the fast community turnover, which accompanied the initial snow melt. The presence of stable communities in cryoconite and cryoconite holes on the GrIS will allow future studies to assess glacier surface microbial diversity at individual study sites from sampling intervals of short duration only. Aeolian inputs also had significantly different organic δ13C values (-28.0 to -27.0‰) from the glacier surface values (-25.7 to -23.6‰), indicating that in situ microbial processes are important in fixing new organic matter and transforming aeolian organic carbon. The continuous productivity of stable communities over one melt season makes them important contributors to biogeochemical nutrient cycling on glaciers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Martyn Tranter
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol UK
| | - Sarah A Bennett
- NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey Nottingham, UK
| | - Jemma Wadham
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol UK
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42
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Microbial abundance and community structure in a melting alpine snowpack. Extremophiles 2015; 19:631-42. [PMID: 25783662 DOI: 10.1007/s00792-015-0744-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2014] [Accepted: 03/01/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Snowmelt is a crucial period for alpine soil ecosystems, as it is related to inputs of nutrients, particulate matter and microorganisms to the underlying soil. Although snow-inhabiting microbial communities represent an important inoculum for soils, they have thus far received little attention. The distribution and structure of these microorganisms in the snowpack may be linked to the physical properties of the snowpack at snowmelt. Snow samples were taken from snow profiles at four sites (1930-2519 m a.s.l.) in the catchment of the Tiefengletscher, Canton Uri, Switzerland. Microbial (Archaea, Bacteria and Fungi) communities were investigated through T-RFLP profiling of the 16S and 18S rRNA genes, respectively. In parallel, we assessed physical and chemical parameters relevant to the understanding of melting processes. Along the snow profiles, density increased with depth due to compaction, while other physico-chemical parameters, such as temperature and concentrations of DOC and soluble ions, remained in the same range (e.g. <2 mg DOC L(-1), 5-30 μg NH4 (+)-N L(-1)) in all samples at all sites. Along the snow profiles, no major change was observed either in cell abundance or in bacterial and fungal diversity. No Archaea could be detected in the snow. Microbial communities, however, differed significantly between sites. Our results show that meltwater rearranges soluble ions and microbial communities in the snowpack.
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43
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Suyal DC, Yadav A, Shouche Y, Goel R. Bacterial diversity and community structure of Western Indian Himalayan red kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) rhizosphere as revealed by 16S rRNA gene sequences. Biologia (Bratisl) 2015. [DOI: 10.1515/biolog-2015-0048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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44
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Snow surface microbiome on the High Antarctic Plateau (DOME C). PLoS One 2014; 9:e104505. [PMID: 25101779 PMCID: PMC4125213 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2014] [Accepted: 07/14/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The cryosphere is an integral part of the global climate system and one of the major habitable ecosystems of Earth's biosphere. These permanently frozen environments harbor diverse, viable and metabolically active microbial populations that represent almost all the major phylogenetic groups. In this study, we investigated the microbial diversity in the surface snow surrounding the Concordia Research Station on the High Antarctic Plateau through a polyphasic approach, including direct prokaryotic quantification by flow cytometry and catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH), and phylogenetic identification by 16S RNA gene clone library sequencing and 454 16S amplicon pyrosequencing. Although the microbial abundance was low (<103 cells/ml of snowmelt), concordant results were obtained with the different techniques. The microbial community was mainly composed of members of the Alpha-proteobacteria class (e.g. Kiloniellaceae and Rhodobacteraceae), which is one of the most well-represented bacterial groups in marine habitats, Bacteroidetes (e.g. Cryomorphaceae and Flavobacteriaceae) and Cyanobacteria. Based on our results, polar microorganisms could not only be considered as deposited airborne particles, but as an active component of the snowpack ecology of the High Antarctic Plateau.
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45
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Abstract
The microbial abundance and diversity in snow on ice floes at three sites near the North Pole was assessed using quantitative PCR and 454 pyrosequencing. Abundance of 16S rRNA genes in the samples ranged between 43 and 248 gene copies per millilitre of melted snow. A total of 291,331 sequences were obtained through 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes, resulting in 984 OTUs at 97 % identity. Two sites were dominated by Cyanobacteria (72 and 61 %, respectively), including chloroplasts. The third site differed by consisting of 95 % Proteobacteria. Principal component analysis showed that the three sites clustered together when compared to the underlying environments of sea ice and ocean water. The Shannon indices ranged from 2.226 to 3.758, and the Chao1 indices showed species richness between 293 and 353 for the three samples. The relatively low abundances and diversity found in the samples indicate a lower rate of microbial input to this snow habitat compared to snow in the proximity of terrestrial and anthropogenic sources of microorganisms. The differences in species composition and diversity between the sites show that apparently similar snow habitats contain a large variation in biodiversity, although the differences were smaller than the differences to the underlying environment. The results support the idea that a globally distributed community exists in snow and that the global snow community can in part be attributed to microbial input from the atmosphere.
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46
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Cameron KA, Hagedorn B, Dieser M, Christner BC, Choquette K, Sletten R, Crump B, Kellogg C, Junge K. Diversity and potential sources of microbiota associated with snow on western portions of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Environ Microbiol 2014; 17:594-609. [DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.12446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2013] [Revised: 02/10/2014] [Accepted: 03/01/2014] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Karen A. Cameron
- Applied Physics Laboratory; University of Washington; Seattle WA USA
| | - Birgit Hagedorn
- Environment and Natural Resources Institute; University of Alaska Anchorage; Anchorage AK USA
| | - Markus Dieser
- Department of Biological Sciences; Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge LA USA
| | - Brent C. Christner
- Department of Biological Sciences; Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge LA USA
| | - Kyla Choquette
- Environment and Natural Resources Institute; University of Alaska Anchorage; Anchorage AK USA
| | - Ronald Sletten
- Earth and Space Sciences; University of Washington; Seattle WA USA
| | - Byron Crump
- Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Oregon State University; Corvallis OR USA
| | - Colleen Kellogg
- Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Oregon State University; Corvallis OR USA
| | - Karen Junge
- Applied Physics Laboratory; University of Washington; Seattle WA USA
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Irvine-Fynn TDL, Edwards A. A frozen asset: the potential of flow cytometry in constraining the glacial biome. Cytometry A 2013; 85:3-7. [PMID: 24273193 DOI: 10.1002/cyto.a.22411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2012] [Revised: 09/13/2013] [Accepted: 10/18/2013] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tristram D L Irvine-Fynn
- Centre for Glaciology (CfG) and Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Microbiology (ICEM); Department of Geography and Earth Sciences (DGES), Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, United Kingdom
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Guan X, Wang J, Zhao H, Wang J, Luo X, Liu F, Zhao F. Soil bacterial communities shaped by geochemical factors and land use in a less-explored area, Tibetan Plateau. BMC Genomics 2013; 14:820. [PMID: 24267482 PMCID: PMC4046825 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-14-820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2013] [Accepted: 11/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND As the largest low-latitude permafrost region, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is an important part of the earth's terrestrial ecosystem and one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change and human activities. However, to the best of our knowledge, the bacterial communities in TP soils and their roles in biogeochemical cycles remain limited. RESULTS In this study, we report the bacterial community structure and function as well as their correlation with environmental factors in TP major ecosystems (farmland, alpine meadow and oligosaline lake) by using metagenomic approaches. Compared with other soil samples in various environments, TP soils share a core set of microorganisms with a distinct abundance and composition. Among TP soil samples, the taxonomic and functional composition of bacterial communities among the upper (3-5 cm) and lower (18-20 cm) soils of farmland sites were highly similar, whereas the dissimilarities within alpine meadow samples were significantly greater than among farmland samples. A similar pattern was observed in elements cycles and pathways associated with adaption to environment and land use types. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that the bacterial communities in most of farmland and alpine meadow soil samples were also significantly correlated with geogenic variables. Specifically, the root-nodule bacteria are negatively correlated with the soil moisture and pH, while Thiobacillus associated with sulfur cycles show potential responses to low temperature and intense UV radiation. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that the bacterial community structure and functions in TP soils were influenced by both human activities and soil environmental properties, and that the bacterial communities appeared to be more homogenized in the farmland soils compared with pristine alpine meadows.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Fei Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
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Lopatina A, Krylenkov V, Severinov K. Activity and bacterial diversity of snow around Russian Antarctic stations. Res Microbiol 2013; 164:949-58. [PMID: 24012540 DOI: 10.1016/j.resmic.2013.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2013] [Accepted: 08/25/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The diversity and temporal dynamics of bacterial communities in pristine snow around two Russian Antarctic stations was investigated. Taxonomic analysis of rDNA libraries revealed that snow communities were dominated by bacteria from a small number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that underwent dramatic swings in abundance between the 54th (2008-2009) and 55th (2009-2010) Russian Antarctic expeditions. Moreover, analysis of the 55th expedition samples indicated that there was very little, if any, correspondence in abundance of clones belonging to the same OTU present in rDNA and rRNA libraries. The latter result suggests that most rDNA clones originate from bacteria that are not alive and/or active and may have been deposited on the snow surface from the atmosphere. In contrast, clones most abundant in rRNA libraries (mostly belonging to Variovorax, Janthinobacterium, Pseudomonas, and Sphingomonas genera) may be considered as endogenous Antarctic snow inhabitants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Lopatina
- Institutes of Molecular Genetics and Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
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Svercel M, Filippini M, Perony N, Rossetti V, Bagheri HC. Use of a four-tiered graph to parse the factors leading to phenotypic clustering in bacteria: a case study based on samples from the Aletsch Glacier. PLoS One 2013; 8:e65059. [PMID: 23741454 PMCID: PMC3669021 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0065059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2012] [Accepted: 04/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
An understanding of bacterial diversity and evolution in any environment requires knowledge of phenotypic diversity. In this study, the underlying factors leading to phenotypic clustering were analyzed and interpreted using a novel approach based on a four-tiered graph. Bacterial isolates were organized into equivalence classes based on their phenotypic profile. Likewise, phenotypes were organized in equivalence classes based on the bacteria that manifest them. The linking of these equivalence classes in a four-tiered graph allowed for a quick visual identification of the phenotypic measurements leading to the clustering patterns deduced from principal component analyses. For evaluation of the method, we investigated phenotypic variation in enzyme production and carbon assimilation of members of the genera Pseudomonas and Serratia, isolated from the Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland. The analysis indicates that the genera isolated produce at least six common enzymes and can exploit a wide range of carbon resources, though some specialist species within the pseudomonads were also observed. We further found that pairwise distances between enzyme profiles strongly correlate with distances based on carbon profiles. However, phenotypic distances weakly correlate with phylogenetic distances. The method developed in this study facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of phenotypic clustering than what would be deduced from principal component analysis alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miroslav Svercel
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- * E-mail: (MS); (HCB)
| | - Manuela Filippini
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Nicolas Perony
- Chair of Systems Design, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Valentina Rossetti
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Homayoun C. Bagheri
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- * E-mail: (MS); (HCB)
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