Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica
Abstract The Vestfold Hills are a 400 km 2 , isolated ice-free oasis in eastern Antarctica featuring large areas with translucent quartz rocks that provide habitat for hypolithic microbial communities underneath. We used high-throughput DNA sequencing of 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA amplicons to charac...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102023000408 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102023000408 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102023000408 2024-10-13T14:03:25+00:00 Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica Clarke, Laurence J. Raes, Eric J. Travers, Toby Virtue, Patti Bergstrom, Dana M. Australian Antarctic Division 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102023000408 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102023000408 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antarctic Science volume 36, issue 1, page 20-36 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 journal-article 2024 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102023000408 2024-10-02T04:01:16Z Abstract The Vestfold Hills are a 400 km 2 , isolated ice-free oasis in eastern Antarctica featuring large areas with translucent quartz rocks that provide habitat for hypolithic microbial communities underneath. We used high-throughput DNA sequencing of 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA amplicons to characterize bacterial and eukaryotic hypolithic communities across the Vestfold Hills. We found high-level, local heterogeneity in community structure consistent with limited dispersal between hypoliths. Hypolithic communities were dominated by heterotrophic Bacteroidetes (mean bacterial relative read abundance: 56%) as well as Cyanobacteria (35%), with the eukaryote component often dominated by Chlorophyta (43%). Small but significant proportions of the variation in microbial community composition and function were explained by soil salinity (5–7%) and water availability (8–11%), with distinct taxa associated with different salinities and water availabilities. Furthermore, many inferred bacterial metabolic pathways were enriched in hypolithic communities from either dry or high-salinity sites. Vestfold Hills hypolithic habitats are likely to be local refuges for bacterial and eukaryotic diversity. Gradients in soil salinity and water availability across the Vestfold Hills, in addition to the number and diversity of lake types and fjords as potential source populations, may contribute to the observed variation in the extremophile, hypolithic microbial community composition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica Cambridge University Press East Antarctica Vestfold Vestfold Hills Antarctic Science 1 17 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The Vestfold Hills are a 400 km 2 , isolated ice-free oasis in eastern Antarctica featuring large areas with translucent quartz rocks that provide habitat for hypolithic microbial communities underneath. We used high-throughput DNA sequencing of 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA amplicons to characterize bacterial and eukaryotic hypolithic communities across the Vestfold Hills. We found high-level, local heterogeneity in community structure consistent with limited dispersal between hypoliths. Hypolithic communities were dominated by heterotrophic Bacteroidetes (mean bacterial relative read abundance: 56%) as well as Cyanobacteria (35%), with the eukaryote component often dominated by Chlorophyta (43%). Small but significant proportions of the variation in microbial community composition and function were explained by soil salinity (5–7%) and water availability (8–11%), with distinct taxa associated with different salinities and water availabilities. Furthermore, many inferred bacterial metabolic pathways were enriched in hypolithic communities from either dry or high-salinity sites. Vestfold Hills hypolithic habitats are likely to be local refuges for bacterial and eukaryotic diversity. Gradients in soil salinity and water availability across the Vestfold Hills, in addition to the number and diversity of lake types and fjords as potential source populations, may contribute to the observed variation in the extremophile, hypolithic microbial community composition. |
author2 |
Australian Antarctic Division |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clarke, Laurence J. Raes, Eric J. Travers, Toby Virtue, Patti Bergstrom, Dana M. |
spellingShingle |
Clarke, Laurence J. Raes, Eric J. Travers, Toby Virtue, Patti Bergstrom, Dana M. Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
author_facet |
Clarke, Laurence J. Raes, Eric J. Travers, Toby Virtue, Patti Bergstrom, Dana M. |
author_sort |
Clarke, Laurence J. |
title |
Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_short |
Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_full |
Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica |
title_sort |
extremophile hypolithic communities in the vestfold hills, east antarctica |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102023000408 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102023000408 |
geographic |
East Antarctica Vestfold Vestfold Hills |
geographic_facet |
East Antarctica Vestfold Vestfold Hills |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica |
op_source |
Antarctic Science volume 36, issue 1, page 20-36 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102023000408 |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
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1 |
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17 |
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1812808396673384448 |