Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica
Since the first descriptions of Antarctic subglacial lakes, there has been a growing interest and awareness of the possibility that life will exist and potentially thrive in these unique and little known environments. The unusual combination of selection pressures, and isolation from the rest of the...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:503178 2023-05-15T13:48:07+02:00 Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica Pearce, David A. Hodgson, Dominic A. Thorne, Michael A. S. Burns, Gavin Cockell, Charles S. 2013-09-06 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503178/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503178/1/diversity-05-00680.pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/d5030680 en eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503178/1/diversity-05-00680.pdf Pearce, David A. orcid:0000-0001-5292-4596 Hodgson, Dominic A. orcid:0000-0002-3841-3746 Thorne, Michael A. S. orcid:0000-0001-7759-612X Burns, Gavin; Cockell, Charles S. 2013 Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica. Diversity, 5 (3). 680-702. https://doi.org/10.3390/d5030680 <https://doi.org/10.3390/d5030680> cc_by CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2013 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.3390/d5030680 2023-02-04T19:37:42Z Since the first descriptions of Antarctic subglacial lakes, there has been a growing interest and awareness of the possibility that life will exist and potentially thrive in these unique and little known environments. The unusual combination of selection pressures, and isolation from the rest of the biosphere, might have led to novel adaptations and physiology not seen before, or indeed to the potential discovery of relic populations that may have become extinct elsewhere. Here we report the first microbiological analysis of a sample taken from a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica (Lake Hodgson, on the Antarctic Peninsula). This is one of a number of subglacial lakes just emerging at the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet due to the renewed onset of deglaciation. Microbial diversity was divided into 23.8% Actinobacteria, 21.6% Proteobacteria, 20.2% Planctomycetes and 11.6% Chloroflexi, characteristic of a range of habitat types (Overall, common sequences were neither distinctly polar, low temperature, freshwater nor marine). Twenty three percent of this diversity could only be identified to “unidentified bacterium”. Clearly these are diverse ecosystems with enormous potential. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Hodgson ENVELOPE(166.083,166.083,-78.117,-78.117) Diversity 5 3 680 702 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Since the first descriptions of Antarctic subglacial lakes, there has been a growing interest and awareness of the possibility that life will exist and potentially thrive in these unique and little known environments. The unusual combination of selection pressures, and isolation from the rest of the biosphere, might have led to novel adaptations and physiology not seen before, or indeed to the potential discovery of relic populations that may have become extinct elsewhere. Here we report the first microbiological analysis of a sample taken from a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica (Lake Hodgson, on the Antarctic Peninsula). This is one of a number of subglacial lakes just emerging at the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet due to the renewed onset of deglaciation. Microbial diversity was divided into 23.8% Actinobacteria, 21.6% Proteobacteria, 20.2% Planctomycetes and 11.6% Chloroflexi, characteristic of a range of habitat types (Overall, common sequences were neither distinctly polar, low temperature, freshwater nor marine). Twenty three percent of this diversity could only be identified to “unidentified bacterium”. Clearly these are diverse ecosystems with enormous potential. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pearce, David A. Hodgson, Dominic A. Thorne, Michael A. S. Burns, Gavin Cockell, Charles S. |
spellingShingle |
Pearce, David A. Hodgson, Dominic A. Thorne, Michael A. S. Burns, Gavin Cockell, Charles S. Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica |
author_facet |
Pearce, David A. Hodgson, Dominic A. Thorne, Michael A. S. Burns, Gavin Cockell, Charles S. |
author_sort |
Pearce, David A. |
title |
Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica |
title_short |
Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica |
title_full |
Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica |
title_sort |
preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in antarctica |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503178/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503178/1/diversity-05-00680.pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/d5030680 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(166.083,166.083,-78.117,-78.117) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Hodgson |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Hodgson |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503178/1/diversity-05-00680.pdf Pearce, David A. orcid:0000-0001-5292-4596 Hodgson, Dominic A. orcid:0000-0002-3841-3746 Thorne, Michael A. S. orcid:0000-0001-7759-612X Burns, Gavin; Cockell, Charles S. 2013 Preliminary analysis of life within a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica. Diversity, 5 (3). 680-702. https://doi.org/10.3390/d5030680 <https://doi.org/10.3390/d5030680> |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/d5030680 |
container_title |
Diversity |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
3 |
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680 |
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702 |
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1766248681788407808 |