Cyanobacteria inhabiting biological soil crusts of a polar desert: Sør Rondane Mountains, Antarctica

peer reviewed Molecular and morphological methods were applied to study cyanobacterial community composition in biological soil crusts (BSCs) from four areas (two nunataks and two ridges) in the Sør Rondane Mountains, Antarctica. The sampling sites serve as control areas for open top chambers (OTCs)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Systematic and Applied Microbiology
Main Authors: Pushkareva, Ekaterina, Pessi, Igor S, Namsaraev, Zorigto, Mano, Marie-José, Elster, Josef, Wilmotte, Annick
Other Authors: CIP - Centre d'Ingénierie des Protéines - ULiège
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
cyanobacteria
Biological Soil Crusts
Antarctica
Biodiversity
Open Top Chambers
Life sciences
Microbiology
Sciences du vivant
Microbiologie
Antarc*
polar desert
Online Access:https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/218320
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.syapm.2018.01.006
Description
Summary:peer reviewed Molecular and morphological methods were applied to study cyanobacterial community composition in biological soil crusts (BSCs) from four areas (two nunataks and two ridges) in the Sør Rondane Mountains, Antarctica. The sampling sites serve as control areas for open top chambers (OTCs) which were placed in 2010 at the time of sample collection and will be compared with BSC samples taken from the OTCs in future. Cyanobacterial cell biovolume was estimated using epifluorescence microscopy, which revealed the dominance of filamentous cyanobacteria in all studied sites except the Utsteinen ridge, where unicellular cyanobacteria were the most abundant. Cyanobacterial diversity was studied by a combination of molecular fingerprinting methods based on the 16S rRNA gene (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and 454 pyrosequencing) using cyanobacteria specific primers. The number of DGGE sequences obtained per site was variable and, therefore, a high-throughput method was later employed to improve the diversity coverage. Consistent with previous surveys in Antarctica, both methods showed that filamentous cyanobacteria such as Leptolyngbya sp., Phormidium sp. and Microcoleus sp. were dominant in the studied sites. In addition, the studied localities differed in substrate type, climatic conditions and soil parameters, which likely resulted in differences in cyanobacterial community composition. Furthermore, the BSC growing on gneiss pebbles had lower cyanobacterial abundances than BSCs associated to granitic substrates. BELDIVA

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