Image_1_Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach.JPEG
Although Antarctica was once believed to be a sterile environment, it is now clear that the microbial communities inhabiting the Antarctic continent are surprisingly diverse. Until the beginning of the new millennium, little was known about the most abundant inhabitants of the continent: prokaryotes...
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ftfrontimediafig:oai:figshare.com:article/7726007 2023-05-15T13:38:04+02:00 Image_1_Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach.JPEG Sam Lambrechts Anne Willems Guillaume Tahon 2019-02-15T14:55:55Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00242.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/Image_1_Uncovering_the_Uncultivated_Majority_in_Antarctic_Soils_Toward_a_Synergistic_Approach_JPEG/7726007 unknown doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00242.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/Image_1_Uncovering_the_Uncultivated_Majority_in_Antarctic_Soils_Toward_a_Synergistic_Approach_JPEG/7726007 CC BY 4.0 CC-BY Microbiology Microbial Genetics Microbial Ecology Mycology Antarctica uncultivated majority cultivation terrestrial cultivation-independent metagenomics candidate phyla microbial dark matter Image Figure 2019 ftfrontimediafig https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00242.s001 2019-02-20T23:59:10Z Although Antarctica was once believed to be a sterile environment, it is now clear that the microbial communities inhabiting the Antarctic continent are surprisingly diverse. Until the beginning of the new millennium, little was known about the most abundant inhabitants of the continent: prokaryotes. From then on, however, the rising use of deep sequencing techniques has led to a better understanding of the Antarctic prokaryote diversity and provided insights in the composition of prokaryotic communities in different Antarctic environments. Although these cultivation-independent approaches can produce millions of sequences, linking these data to organisms is hindered by several problems. The largest difficulty is the lack of biological information on large parts of the microbial tree of life, arising from the fact that most microbial diversity on Earth has never been characterized in laboratory cultures. These unknown prokaryotes, also known as microbial dark matter, have been dominantly detected in all major environments on our planet. Laboratory cultures provide access to the complete genome and the means to experimentally verify genomic predictions and metabolic functions and to provide evidence of horizontal gene transfer. Without such well-documented reference data, microbial dark matter will remain a major blind spot in deep sequencing studies. Here, we review our current understanding of prokaryotic communities in Antarctic ice-free soils based on cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent approaches. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and how these strategies may be combined synergistically to strengthen each other and allow a more profound understanding of prokaryotic life on the frozen continent. Still Image Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Frontiers: Figshare Antarctic The Antarctic |
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Frontiers: Figshare |
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Microbiology Microbial Genetics Microbial Ecology Mycology Antarctica uncultivated majority cultivation terrestrial cultivation-independent metagenomics candidate phyla microbial dark matter |
spellingShingle |
Microbiology Microbial Genetics Microbial Ecology Mycology Antarctica uncultivated majority cultivation terrestrial cultivation-independent metagenomics candidate phyla microbial dark matter Sam Lambrechts Anne Willems Guillaume Tahon Image_1_Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach.JPEG |
topic_facet |
Microbiology Microbial Genetics Microbial Ecology Mycology Antarctica uncultivated majority cultivation terrestrial cultivation-independent metagenomics candidate phyla microbial dark matter |
description |
Although Antarctica was once believed to be a sterile environment, it is now clear that the microbial communities inhabiting the Antarctic continent are surprisingly diverse. Until the beginning of the new millennium, little was known about the most abundant inhabitants of the continent: prokaryotes. From then on, however, the rising use of deep sequencing techniques has led to a better understanding of the Antarctic prokaryote diversity and provided insights in the composition of prokaryotic communities in different Antarctic environments. Although these cultivation-independent approaches can produce millions of sequences, linking these data to organisms is hindered by several problems. The largest difficulty is the lack of biological information on large parts of the microbial tree of life, arising from the fact that most microbial diversity on Earth has never been characterized in laboratory cultures. These unknown prokaryotes, also known as microbial dark matter, have been dominantly detected in all major environments on our planet. Laboratory cultures provide access to the complete genome and the means to experimentally verify genomic predictions and metabolic functions and to provide evidence of horizontal gene transfer. Without such well-documented reference data, microbial dark matter will remain a major blind spot in deep sequencing studies. Here, we review our current understanding of prokaryotic communities in Antarctic ice-free soils based on cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent approaches. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and how these strategies may be combined synergistically to strengthen each other and allow a more profound understanding of prokaryotic life on the frozen continent. |
format |
Still Image |
author |
Sam Lambrechts Anne Willems Guillaume Tahon |
author_facet |
Sam Lambrechts Anne Willems Guillaume Tahon |
author_sort |
Sam Lambrechts |
title |
Image_1_Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach.JPEG |
title_short |
Image_1_Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach.JPEG |
title_full |
Image_1_Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach.JPEG |
title_fullStr |
Image_1_Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach.JPEG |
title_full_unstemmed |
Image_1_Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach.JPEG |
title_sort |
image_1_uncovering the uncultivated majority in antarctic soils: toward a synergistic approach.jpeg |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00242.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/Image_1_Uncovering_the_Uncultivated_Majority_in_Antarctic_Soils_Toward_a_Synergistic_Approach_JPEG/7726007 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_relation |
doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00242.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/Image_1_Uncovering_the_Uncultivated_Majority_in_Antarctic_Soils_Toward_a_Synergistic_Approach_JPEG/7726007 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00242.s001 |
_version_ |
1766101185526235136 |