Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem
Recent attempts to explore marine microbial diversity and the global marine microbiome have indicated a large proportion of previously unknown diversity. However, sequencing alone does not tell the whole story, as it relies heavily upon information that is already contained within sequence databases...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:512726 2023-05-15T13:49:32+02:00 Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem Dickinson, Iain Goodall-Copestake, William Thorne, Michael A.S. Schlitt, Thomas Ávila-Jiménez, Maria L. Pearce, David A. 2016-01 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/512726/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/512726/1/microorganisms-04-00008.pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms4010008 en eng MDPI https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/512726/1/microorganisms-04-00008.pdf Dickinson, Iain; Goodall-Copestake, William orcid:0000-0003-3586-9091 Thorne, Michael A.S. orcid:0000-0001-7759-612X Schlitt, Thomas; Ávila-Jiménez, Maria L.; Pearce, David A. orcid:0000-0001-5292-4596 . 2016 Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem. Microorganisms, 4 (1), 8. 18, pp. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms4010008 <https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms4010008> cc_by CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms4010008 2023-02-04T19:42:35Z Recent attempts to explore marine microbial diversity and the global marine microbiome have indicated a large proportion of previously unknown diversity. However, sequencing alone does not tell the whole story, as it relies heavily upon information that is already contained within sequence databases. In addition, microorganisms have been shown to present small-to-large scale biogeographical patterns worldwide, potentially making regional combinations of selection pressures unique. Here, we focus on the extremophile community in the boundary region located between the Polar Front and the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Southern Ocean, to explore the potential of metagenomic approaches as a tool for bioprospecting in the search for novel functional activity based on targeted sampling efforts. We assessed the microbial composition and diversity from a region north of the current limit for winter sea ice, north of the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Front (SACCF) but south of the Polar Front. Although, most of the more frequently encountered sequences were derived from common marine microorganisms, within these dominant groups, we found a proportion of genes related to secondary metabolism of potential interest in bioprospecting. Extremophiles were rare by comparison but belonged to a range of genera. Hence, they represented interesting targets from which to identify rare or novel functions. Ultimately, future shifts in environmental conditions favoring more cosmopolitan groups could have an unpredictable effect on microbial diversity and function in the Southern Ocean, perhaps excluding the rarer extremophiles. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic Southern Ocean Microorganisms 4 1 8 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Recent attempts to explore marine microbial diversity and the global marine microbiome have indicated a large proportion of previously unknown diversity. However, sequencing alone does not tell the whole story, as it relies heavily upon information that is already contained within sequence databases. In addition, microorganisms have been shown to present small-to-large scale biogeographical patterns worldwide, potentially making regional combinations of selection pressures unique. Here, we focus on the extremophile community in the boundary region located between the Polar Front and the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Southern Ocean, to explore the potential of metagenomic approaches as a tool for bioprospecting in the search for novel functional activity based on targeted sampling efforts. We assessed the microbial composition and diversity from a region north of the current limit for winter sea ice, north of the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Front (SACCF) but south of the Polar Front. Although, most of the more frequently encountered sequences were derived from common marine microorganisms, within these dominant groups, we found a proportion of genes related to secondary metabolism of potential interest in bioprospecting. Extremophiles were rare by comparison but belonged to a range of genera. Hence, they represented interesting targets from which to identify rare or novel functions. Ultimately, future shifts in environmental conditions favoring more cosmopolitan groups could have an unpredictable effect on microbial diversity and function in the Southern Ocean, perhaps excluding the rarer extremophiles. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dickinson, Iain Goodall-Copestake, William Thorne, Michael A.S. Schlitt, Thomas Ávila-Jiménez, Maria L. Pearce, David A. |
spellingShingle |
Dickinson, Iain Goodall-Copestake, William Thorne, Michael A.S. Schlitt, Thomas Ávila-Jiménez, Maria L. Pearce, David A. Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem |
author_facet |
Dickinson, Iain Goodall-Copestake, William Thorne, Michael A.S. Schlitt, Thomas Ávila-Jiménez, Maria L. Pearce, David A. |
author_sort |
Dickinson, Iain |
title |
Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem |
title_short |
Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem |
title_full |
Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem |
title_sort |
extremophiles in an antarctic marine ecosystem |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/512726/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/512726/1/microorganisms-04-00008.pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms4010008 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/512726/1/microorganisms-04-00008.pdf Dickinson, Iain; Goodall-Copestake, William orcid:0000-0003-3586-9091 Thorne, Michael A.S. orcid:0000-0001-7759-612X Schlitt, Thomas; Ávila-Jiménez, Maria L.; Pearce, David A. orcid:0000-0001-5292-4596 . 2016 Extremophiles in an Antarctic Marine Ecosystem. Microorganisms, 4 (1), 8. 18, pp. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms4010008 <https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms4010008> |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms4010008 |
container_title |
Microorganisms |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
8 |
_version_ |
1766251519991087104 |