Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition
Microbial communities in remote locations remain under-studied. This is particularly true on glaciers and icecaps, which cover approximately 11% of the Earth’s surface. The principal reason for this is the inaccessibility of most of these areas due to their extreme isolation and challenging environm...
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Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6896169/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31703372 https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10110902 |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6896169 2023-05-15T16:38:06+02:00 Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition Gowers, Glen-Oliver. F. Vince, Oliver Charles, John-Henry Klarenberg, Ingeborg Ellis, Tom Edwards, Arwyn 2019-11-07 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6896169/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31703372 https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10110902 en eng MDPI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6896169/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31703372 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes10110902 © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Article Text 2019 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10110902 2019-12-29T01:17:21Z Microbial communities in remote locations remain under-studied. This is particularly true on glaciers and icecaps, which cover approximately 11% of the Earth’s surface. The principal reason for this is the inaccessibility of most of these areas due to their extreme isolation and challenging environmental conditions. While remote research stations have significantly lowered the barrier to studying the microbial communities on icecaps, their use has led to a bias for data collection in the near vicinity of these institutions. Here, miniaturisation of a DNA sequencing lab suitable for off-grid metagenomic studies is demonstrated. Using human power alone, this lab was transported across Europe’s largest ice cap (Vatnajökull, Iceland) by ski and sledge. After 11 days of unsupported polar-style travel, a metagenomic study of a geothermal hot spring gorge was conducted on the remote northern edge of the ice cap. This tent-based metagenomic study resulted in over 24 h of Nanopore sequencing, powered by solar power alone. This study demonstrates the ability to conduct DNA sequencing in remote locations, far from civilised resources (mechanised transport, external power supply, internet connection, etc.), whilst greatly reducing the time from sample collection to data acquisition. Text Ice cap Iceland Vatnajökull PubMed Central (PMC) Vatnajökull ENVELOPE(-16.823,-16.823,64.420,64.420) Genes 10 11 902 |
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Article Gowers, Glen-Oliver. F. Vince, Oliver Charles, John-Henry Klarenberg, Ingeborg Ellis, Tom Edwards, Arwyn Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition |
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Article |
description |
Microbial communities in remote locations remain under-studied. This is particularly true on glaciers and icecaps, which cover approximately 11% of the Earth’s surface. The principal reason for this is the inaccessibility of most of these areas due to their extreme isolation and challenging environmental conditions. While remote research stations have significantly lowered the barrier to studying the microbial communities on icecaps, their use has led to a bias for data collection in the near vicinity of these institutions. Here, miniaturisation of a DNA sequencing lab suitable for off-grid metagenomic studies is demonstrated. Using human power alone, this lab was transported across Europe’s largest ice cap (Vatnajökull, Iceland) by ski and sledge. After 11 days of unsupported polar-style travel, a metagenomic study of a geothermal hot spring gorge was conducted on the remote northern edge of the ice cap. This tent-based metagenomic study resulted in over 24 h of Nanopore sequencing, powered by solar power alone. This study demonstrates the ability to conduct DNA sequencing in remote locations, far from civilised resources (mechanised transport, external power supply, internet connection, etc.), whilst greatly reducing the time from sample collection to data acquisition. |
format |
Text |
author |
Gowers, Glen-Oliver. F. Vince, Oliver Charles, John-Henry Klarenberg, Ingeborg Ellis, Tom Edwards, Arwyn |
author_facet |
Gowers, Glen-Oliver. F. Vince, Oliver Charles, John-Henry Klarenberg, Ingeborg Ellis, Tom Edwards, Arwyn |
author_sort |
Gowers, Glen-Oliver. F. |
title |
Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition |
title_short |
Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition |
title_full |
Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition |
title_fullStr |
Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition |
title_full_unstemmed |
Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition |
title_sort |
entirely off-grid and solar-powered dna sequencing of microbial communities during an ice cap traverse expedition |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6896169/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31703372 https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10110902 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-16.823,-16.823,64.420,64.420) |
geographic |
Vatnajökull |
geographic_facet |
Vatnajökull |
genre |
Ice cap Iceland Vatnajökull |
genre_facet |
Ice cap Iceland Vatnajökull |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6896169/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31703372 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes10110902 |
op_rights |
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10110902 |
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Genes |
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10 |
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11 |
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902 |
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1766028400177184768 |