Highly specialized microbial diversity in hyper-arid polar desert

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Pointing, Stephen B., Chan, Yuki, Lacap, Donnabella C., Lau, Maggie C. Y., Jurgens, Joel A., Farrell, Roberta L.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences 2009
• Subjects: Biological Sciences; McKelvey; McKelvey Valley; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Antarc*; Antarctica; polar desert
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2765924; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19850879; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0908274106

The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are a cold hyperarid polar desert that present extreme challenges to life. Here, we report a culture-independent survey of multidomain microbial biodiversity in McKelvey Valley, a pristine example of the coldest desert on Earth. We demonstrate that life has adap...