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...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5c3c63702b8e46d6ad4e56da308c9df8 2023-05-15T13:34:44+02:00 Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica Carla Greco Dale T. Andersen Ian Hawes Alexander M. C. Bowles Marian L. Yallop Gary Barker Anne D. Jungblut 2020-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 https://doaj.org/article/5c3c63702b8e46d6ad4e56da308c9df8 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 https://doaj.org/article/5c3c63702b8e46d6ad4e56da308c9df8 Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 11 (2020) 16S rRNA gene 18S rRNA gene microbial mat pinnacles cones stromatolite Microbiology QR1-502 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 2022-12-31T04:02:52Z 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 Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic East Antarctica Pinnacle ENVELOPE(-54.900,-54.900,-61.067,-61.067) Untersee ENVELOPE(13.467,13.467,-71.350,-71.350) Frontiers in Microbiology 11 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
16S rRNA gene 18S rRNA gene microbial mat pinnacles cones stromatolite Microbiology QR1-502 |
spellingShingle |
16S rRNA gene 18S rRNA gene microbial mat pinnacles cones stromatolite Microbiology QR1-502 Carla Greco Dale T. Andersen Ian Hawes Alexander M. C. Bowles Marian L. Yallop Gary Barker Anne D. Jungblut Microbial Diversity of Pinnacle and Conical Microbial Mats in the Perennially Ice-Covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica |
topic_facet |
16S rRNA gene 18S rRNA gene microbial mat pinnacles cones stromatolite Microbiology QR1-502 |
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 |
Carla Greco Dale T. Andersen Ian Hawes Alexander M. C. Bowles Marian L. Yallop Gary Barker Anne D. Jungblut |
author_facet |
Carla Greco Dale T. Andersen Ian Hawes Alexander M. C. Bowles Marian L. Yallop Gary Barker Anne D. Jungblut |
author_sort |
Carla Greco |
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 S.A. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 https://doaj.org/article/5c3c63702b8e46d6ad4e56da308c9df8 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-54.900,-54.900,-61.067,-61.067) ENVELOPE(13.467,13.467,-71.350,-71.350) |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica Pinnacle Untersee |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica Pinnacle Untersee |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica |
op_source |
Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 11 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 https://doaj.org/article/5c3c63702b8e46d6ad4e56da308c9df8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.607251 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
11 |
_version_ |
1766056803595976704 |