Bipolar dispersal of red-snow algae

Red-snow algae are red-pigmented unicellular algae that appear seasonally on the surface of thawing snow worldwide. Here, we analyse the distribution patterns of snow algae sampled from glaciers and snow patches in the Arctic and Antarctica based on nuclear ITS2 sequences, which evolve rapidly. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Segawa, Takahiro, Matsuzaki, Ryo, Takeuchi, Nozomu, Akiyoshi, Ayumi, Navarro, Francisco, Sugiyama, Shin, Yonezawa, Takahiro, Mori, Hiroshi
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Subjects:
Article
Arctic
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6079020/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30082897
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05521-w
Description
Summary:Red-snow algae are red-pigmented unicellular algae that appear seasonally on the surface of thawing snow worldwide. Here, we analyse the distribution patterns of snow algae sampled from glaciers and snow patches in the Arctic and Antarctica based on nuclear ITS2 sequences, which evolve rapidly. The number of phylotypes is limited in both polar regions, and most are specific to either the Arctic or Antarctica. However, the bipolar phylotypes account for the largest share (37.3%) of all sequences, suggesting that red-algal blooms in polar regions may comprise mainly cosmopolitan phylotypes but also include endemic organisms, which are distributed either in the Arctic or Antarctica.

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