Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica
Antarctic perennially ice-covered lakes provide a stable low-disturbance environment where complex microbially mediated structures can grow. Lake Untersee, an ultra-oligotrophic lake in East Antarctica, has the lake floor covered in benthic microbial mat communities, where laminated organo-sedimenta...
Published in: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Frontiers Media SA
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251/full |
id |
crfrontiers:10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crfrontiers:10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 2024-09-15T17:41:35+00:00 Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica Greco, Carla Andersen, Dale T. Hawes, Ian Bowles, Alexander M. C. Yallop, Marian L. Barker, Gary Jungblut, Anne D. 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Microbiology volume 11 ISSN 1664-302X journal-article 2020 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 2024-08-20T04:04:43Z Antarctic perennially ice-covered lakes provide a stable low-disturbance environment where complex microbially mediated structures can grow. Lake Untersee, an ultra-oligotrophic lake in East Antarctica, has the lake floor covered in benthic microbial mat communities, where laminated organo-sedimentary structures form with three distinct, sympatric morphologies: small, elongated cuspate pinnacles, large complex cones and flat mats. We examined the diversity of prokaryotes and eukaryotes in pinnacles, cones and flat microbial mats using high-throughput sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes and assessed how microbial composition may underpin the formation of these distinct macroscopic mat morphologies under the same environmental conditions. Our analysis identified distinct clustering of microbial communities according to mat morphology. The prokaryotic communities were dominated by Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, and Actinobacteria. While filamentous Tychonema cyanobacteria were common in all mat types, Leptolyngbya showed an increased relative abundance in the pinnacle structures only. Our study provides the first report of the eukaryotic community structure of Lake Untersee benthic mats, which was dominated by Ciliophora, Chlorophyta, Fungi, Cercozoa, and Discicristata. The eukaryote richness was lower than for prokaryote assemblages and no distinct clustering was observed between mat morphologies. These findings suggest that cyanobacterial assemblages and potentially other bacteria and eukaryotes may influence structure morphogenesis, allowing distinct structures to form across a small spatial scale. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Microbiology 11 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Frontiers (Publisher) |
op_collection_id |
crfrontiers |
language |
unknown |
description |
Antarctic perennially ice-covered lakes provide a stable low-disturbance environment where complex microbially mediated structures can grow. Lake Untersee, an ultra-oligotrophic lake in East Antarctica, has the lake floor covered in benthic microbial mat communities, where laminated organo-sedimentary structures form with three distinct, sympatric morphologies: small, elongated cuspate pinnacles, large complex cones and flat mats. We examined the diversity of prokaryotes and eukaryotes in pinnacles, cones and flat microbial mats using high-throughput sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes and assessed how microbial composition may underpin the formation of these distinct macroscopic mat morphologies under the same environmental conditions. Our analysis identified distinct clustering of microbial communities according to mat morphology. The prokaryotic communities were dominated by Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, and Actinobacteria. While filamentous Tychonema cyanobacteria were common in all mat types, Leptolyngbya showed an increased relative abundance in the pinnacle structures only. Our study provides the first report of the eukaryotic community structure of Lake Untersee benthic mats, which was dominated by Ciliophora, Chlorophyta, Fungi, Cercozoa, and Discicristata. The eukaryote richness was lower than for prokaryote assemblages and no distinct clustering was observed between mat morphologies. These findings suggest that cyanobacterial assemblages and potentially other bacteria and eukaryotes may influence structure morphogenesis, allowing distinct structures to form across a small spatial scale. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Greco, Carla Andersen, Dale T. Hawes, Ian Bowles, Alexander M. C. Yallop, Marian L. Barker, Gary Jungblut, Anne D. |
spellingShingle |
Greco, Carla Andersen, Dale T. Hawes, Ian Bowles, Alexander M. C. Yallop, Marian L. Barker, Gary Jungblut, Anne D. Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica |
author_facet |
Greco, Carla Andersen, Dale T. Hawes, Ian Bowles, Alexander M. C. Yallop, Marian L. Barker, Gary Jungblut, Anne D. |
author_sort |
Greco, Carla |
title |
Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica |
title_short |
Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica |
title_full |
Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica |
title_sort |
microbial diversity of pinnacle and conical microbial mats in the perennially ice-covered lake untersee, east antarctica |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251/full |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica |
op_source |
Frontiers in Microbiology volume 11 ISSN 1664-302X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
11 |
_version_ |
1810487806593597440 |