Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica
Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW) is located beneath 800 m of ice on the Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica and was sampled in January of 2013, providing the first opportunity to directly examine water and sediments from an Antarctic subglacial lake. To minimize the introduction of surface contamin...
Published in: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/12620 |
id |
ftmontanastateu:oai:scholarworks.montana.edu:1/12620 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftmontanastateu:oai:scholarworks.montana.edu:1/12620 2023-05-15T13:55:57+02:00 Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica Achberger, Amanda M. Christner, Brent C. Michaud, Alexander B. Priscu, John C. Skidmore, Mark L. Vick-Majors, Trista J. 2016-09 application/pdf https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/12620 en_US eng Achbergert, Amanda M, Brent C Christner, Alexander B Michaud, John C Priscu, Mark L Skidmore, and Trista J Vick-Majors. "Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica." Frontiers in Microbiology 7 (September 2016). DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01457. 1664-302X https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/12620 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode CC-BY Article 2016 ftmontanastateu https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01457 2022-06-06T07:24:56Z Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW) is located beneath 800 m of ice on the Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica and was sampled in January of 2013, providing the first opportunity to directly examine water and sediments from an Antarctic subglacial lake. To minimize the introduction of surface contaminants to SLW during its exploration, an access borehole was created using a microbiologically clean hot water drill designed to reduce the number and viability of microorganisms in the drilling water. Analysis of 16S rRNA genes (rDNA) amplified from samples of the drilling and borehole water allowed an evaluation of the efficacy of this approach and enabled a confident assessment of the SLW ecosystem inhabitants. Based on an analysis of 16S rDNA and rRNA (i.e., reverse-transcribed rRNA molecules) data, the SLW community was found to be bacterially dominated and compositionally distinct from the assemblages identified in the drill system. The abundance of bacteria (e.g., Candidatus Nitrotoga, Sideroxydans, Thiobacillus, and Albidiferax) and archaea (Candidatus Nitrosoarchaeum) related to chemolithoautotrophs was consistent with the oxidation of reduced iron, sulfur, and nitrogen compounds having important roles as pathways for primary production in this permanently dark ecosystem. Further, the prevalence of Methylobacter in surficial lake sediments combined with the detection of methanogenic taxa in the deepest sediment horizons analyzed (34-36 cm) supported the hypothesis that methane cycling occurs beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Large ratios of rRNA to rDNA were observed for several operational taxonomic units abundant in the water column and sediments (e.g., Albidiferax, Methylobacter, Candidatus Nitrotoga, Sideroxydans, and Smithella), suggesting a potentially active role for these taxa in the SLW ecosystem. Our findings are consistent with chemosynthetic microorganisms serving as the ecological foundation in this dark subsurface environment, providing new organic matter that sustains a microbial ecosystem ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica Whillans Ice Stream Montana State University (MSU): ScholarWorks Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica Whillans ENVELOPE(-64.250,-64.250,-84.450,-84.450) Whillans Ice Stream ENVELOPE(-145.000,-145.000,-83.667,-83.667) Frontiers in Microbiology 7 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Montana State University (MSU): ScholarWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftmontanastateu |
language |
English |
description |
Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW) is located beneath 800 m of ice on the Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica and was sampled in January of 2013, providing the first opportunity to directly examine water and sediments from an Antarctic subglacial lake. To minimize the introduction of surface contaminants to SLW during its exploration, an access borehole was created using a microbiologically clean hot water drill designed to reduce the number and viability of microorganisms in the drilling water. Analysis of 16S rRNA genes (rDNA) amplified from samples of the drilling and borehole water allowed an evaluation of the efficacy of this approach and enabled a confident assessment of the SLW ecosystem inhabitants. Based on an analysis of 16S rDNA and rRNA (i.e., reverse-transcribed rRNA molecules) data, the SLW community was found to be bacterially dominated and compositionally distinct from the assemblages identified in the drill system. The abundance of bacteria (e.g., Candidatus Nitrotoga, Sideroxydans, Thiobacillus, and Albidiferax) and archaea (Candidatus Nitrosoarchaeum) related to chemolithoautotrophs was consistent with the oxidation of reduced iron, sulfur, and nitrogen compounds having important roles as pathways for primary production in this permanently dark ecosystem. Further, the prevalence of Methylobacter in surficial lake sediments combined with the detection of methanogenic taxa in the deepest sediment horizons analyzed (34-36 cm) supported the hypothesis that methane cycling occurs beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Large ratios of rRNA to rDNA were observed for several operational taxonomic units abundant in the water column and sediments (e.g., Albidiferax, Methylobacter, Candidatus Nitrotoga, Sideroxydans, and Smithella), suggesting a potentially active role for these taxa in the SLW ecosystem. Our findings are consistent with chemosynthetic microorganisms serving as the ecological foundation in this dark subsurface environment, providing new organic matter that sustains a microbial ecosystem ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Achberger, Amanda M. Christner, Brent C. Michaud, Alexander B. Priscu, John C. Skidmore, Mark L. Vick-Majors, Trista J. |
spellingShingle |
Achberger, Amanda M. Christner, Brent C. Michaud, Alexander B. Priscu, John C. Skidmore, Mark L. Vick-Majors, Trista J. Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica |
author_facet |
Achberger, Amanda M. Christner, Brent C. Michaud, Alexander B. Priscu, John C. Skidmore, Mark L. Vick-Majors, Trista J. |
author_sort |
Achberger, Amanda M. |
title |
Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica |
title_short |
Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica |
title_full |
Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica |
title_sort |
microbial community structure of subglacial lake whillans, west antarctica |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/12620 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-64.250,-64.250,-84.450,-84.450) ENVELOPE(-145.000,-145.000,-83.667,-83.667) |
geographic |
Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica Whillans Whillans Ice Stream |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica Whillans Whillans Ice Stream |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica Whillans Ice Stream |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica Whillans Ice Stream |
op_relation |
Achbergert, Amanda M, Brent C Christner, Alexander B Michaud, John C Priscu, Mark L Skidmore, and Trista J Vick-Majors. "Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica." Frontiers in Microbiology 7 (September 2016). DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01457. 1664-302X https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/12620 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01457 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
7 |
_version_ |
1766262948926324736 |