Electron Microscopy of Antarctic Soils: Visualization of Bound Micro-Organisms

• Published in: Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America
• Main Authors: Uydess, I. L., Rice, C. W., Hempfling, W. P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1975
• Subjects: General Medicine; Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0424820100116838; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0424820100116838

During Professor Wolf Vishniac's final journey to the “Dry Valleys” region of South Victorialand, Antarctica, he and Professor Zeddie Bowen conducted a number of experiments designed to re-examine claims of sterile or “abiotic” soils made by other investigators visiting these same regions. In addition to “labeled-release” experiments in which C 14 -labeled amino acids were inoculated into the soil, sterile carbon and collodion coated EM grids mounted on glass slides were implanted into the ground at geographically distinct sites. The slides were allowed to incubate in situ for a period of 4-5 weeks during which time the typical diurnal soil temperature ranged between -10° and 0°C. The slides were then carefully collected so as not to disturb attached soil particles and sealed within screw-cap containers filled with a 1.5% glutaraldehyde-phosphate buffered saline solution. Bulk soil samples were also collected aseptically from each station for examination in the laboratory.