Lipid biomarkers from microbial mats on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica: signatures for life in the cryosphere ...

• Main Author: nasa ames ahed
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: NASA 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; McMurdo Dry Valleys; McMurdo Ice Shelf; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48667/r1zs-v785; https://ahed.nasa.gov/datasets/0cc9b94ae0a33500c14179393fba

Persistent cold temperatures, a paucity of nutrients, freeze-thaw cycles, and the strongly seasonal light regime make Antarctica one of Earth’s least hospitable surface environments for complex life. Cyanobacteria, however, are well-adapted to such conditions and are often the dominant primary producers in Antarctic inland water environments. In particular, the network of meltwater ponds on the ‘dirty ice’ of the McMurdo Ice Shelf is an ecosystem with extensive cyanobacteria-dominated microbial mat accumulations. This study investigated intact polar lipids (IPLs), heterocyte glycolipids (HGs), bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs) in combination with 16S and 18S rRNA gene diversity in microbial mats of twelve ponds in this unique polar ecosystem. To constrain the effects of nutrient availability, temperature and freeze-thaw cycles on the lipid membrane composition, lipids were compared to stromatolite-forming cyanobacterial mats from ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys as well ...