Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals
Incredible as it is, researchers have now the awareness that even the most extreme environment includes special habitats that host several forms of life. Cold environments cover different compartments of the cryosphere, as sea and freshwater ice, glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Although these are ve...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12030312 https://doaj.org/article/65bf2e8f768640b48c6f735744c2f3f2 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:65bf2e8f768640b48c6f735744c2f3f2 2023-05-15T16:37:24+02:00 Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals Carmen Rizzo Angelina Lo Giudice 2022-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12030312 https://doaj.org/article/65bf2e8f768640b48c6f735744c2f3f2 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/12/3/312 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4352 doi:10.3390/cryst12030312 2073-4352 https://doaj.org/article/65bf2e8f768640b48c6f735744c2f3f2 Crystals, Vol 12, Iss 312, p 312 (2022) cryosphere ice crystals cold-adapted bacteria Crystallography QD901-999 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12030312 2022-12-30T21:55:48Z Incredible as it is, researchers have now the awareness that even the most extreme environment includes special habitats that host several forms of life. Cold environments cover different compartments of the cryosphere, as sea and freshwater ice, glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Although these are very particular environmental compartments in which various stressors coexist (i.e., freeze–thaw cycles, scarce water availability, irradiance conditions, and poorness of nutrients), diverse specialized microbial communities are harbored. This raises many intriguing questions, many of which are still unresolved. For instance, a challenging focus is to understand if microorganisms survive trapped frozen among ice crystals for long periods of time or if they indeed remain metabolically active. Likewise, a look at their site-specific diversity and at their putative geochemical activity is demanded, as well as at the equally interesting microbial activity at subzero temperatures. The production of special molecules such as strategy of adaptations, cryoprotectants, and ice crystal-controlling molecules is even more intriguing. This paper aims at reviewing all these aspects with the intent of providing a thorough overview of the main contributors in investigating the microbial life in the cryosphere, touching on the themes of diversity, adaptation, and metabolic potential. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Crystals 12 3 312 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
cryosphere ice crystals cold-adapted bacteria Crystallography QD901-999 |
spellingShingle |
cryosphere ice crystals cold-adapted bacteria Crystallography QD901-999 Carmen Rizzo Angelina Lo Giudice Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals |
topic_facet |
cryosphere ice crystals cold-adapted bacteria Crystallography QD901-999 |
description |
Incredible as it is, researchers have now the awareness that even the most extreme environment includes special habitats that host several forms of life. Cold environments cover different compartments of the cryosphere, as sea and freshwater ice, glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Although these are very particular environmental compartments in which various stressors coexist (i.e., freeze–thaw cycles, scarce water availability, irradiance conditions, and poorness of nutrients), diverse specialized microbial communities are harbored. This raises many intriguing questions, many of which are still unresolved. For instance, a challenging focus is to understand if microorganisms survive trapped frozen among ice crystals for long periods of time or if they indeed remain metabolically active. Likewise, a look at their site-specific diversity and at their putative geochemical activity is demanded, as well as at the equally interesting microbial activity at subzero temperatures. The production of special molecules such as strategy of adaptations, cryoprotectants, and ice crystal-controlling molecules is even more intriguing. This paper aims at reviewing all these aspects with the intent of providing a thorough overview of the main contributors in investigating the microbial life in the cryosphere, touching on the themes of diversity, adaptation, and metabolic potential. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Carmen Rizzo Angelina Lo Giudice |
author_facet |
Carmen Rizzo Angelina Lo Giudice |
author_sort |
Carmen Rizzo |
title |
Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals |
title_short |
Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals |
title_full |
Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals |
title_fullStr |
Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals |
title_sort |
life from a snowflake: diversity and adaptation of cold-loving bacteria among ice crystals |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12030312 https://doaj.org/article/65bf2e8f768640b48c6f735744c2f3f2 |
genre |
Ice permafrost |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost |
op_source |
Crystals, Vol 12, Iss 312, p 312 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/12/3/312 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4352 doi:10.3390/cryst12030312 2073-4352 https://doaj.org/article/65bf2e8f768640b48c6f735744c2f3f2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12030312 |
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Crystals |
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12 |
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3 |
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312 |
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1766027701610610688 |