Physiological Capabilities of Cryoconite Hole Microorganisms
Cryoconite holes are miniature freshwater aquatic ecosystems that harbor a relatively diverse microbial community. This microbial community can withstand the extreme conditions of the supraglacial environment, including fluctuating temperatures, extreme and varying geochemical conditions and limited...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7412143 2023-05-15T13:47:04+02:00 Physiological Capabilities of Cryoconite Hole Microorganisms Poniecka, Ewa A. Bagshaw, Elizabeth A. Sass, Henrik Segar, Amelia Webster, Gordon Williamson, Christopher Anesio, Alexandre M. Tranter, Martyn 2020-07-31 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7412143/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32849402 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01783 en eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7412143/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32849402 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01783 Copyright © 2020 Poniecka, Bagshaw, Sass, Segar, Webster, Williamson, Anesio and Tranter. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. CC-BY Front Microbiol Microbiology Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01783 2020-08-30T00:24:22Z Cryoconite holes are miniature freshwater aquatic ecosystems that harbor a relatively diverse microbial community. This microbial community can withstand the extreme conditions of the supraglacial environment, including fluctuating temperatures, extreme and varying geochemical conditions and limited nutrients. We analyzed the physiological capabilities of microbial isolates from cryoconite holes from Antarctica, Greenland, and Svalbard in selected environmental conditions: extreme pH, salinity, freeze-thaw and limited carbon sources, to identify their physiological limits. The results suggest that heterotrophic microorganisms in cryoconite holes are well adapted to fast-changing environmental conditions, by surviving multiple freeze-thaw cycles, a wide range of salinity and pH conditions and scavenging a variety of organic substrates. Under oxic and anoxic conditions, the communities grew well in temperatures up to 30°C, although in anoxic conditions the community was more successful at colder temperatures (0.2°C). The most abundant cultivable microorganisms were facultative anaerobic bacteria and yeasts. They grew in salinities up to 10% and in pH ranging from 4 to 10.5 (Antarctica), 2.5 to 10 (Svalbard), and 3 to 10 (Greenland). Their growth was sustained on at least 58 single carbon sources and there was no decrease in viability for some isolates after up to 100 consecutive freeze-thaw cycles. The elevated viability of the anaerobic community in the lowest temperatures indicates they might be key players in winter conditions or in early melt seasons, when the oxygen is potentially depleted due to limited flow of meltwater. Consequently, facultative anaerobic heterotrophs are likely important players in the reactivation of the community after the polar night. This detailed physiological investigation shows that despite inhabiting a freshwater environment, cryoconite microorganisms are able to withstand conditions not typically encountered in freshwater environments (namely high salinities or extreme pH), ... Text Antarc* Antarctica Greenland polar night Svalbard PubMed Central (PMC) Greenland Svalbard Frontiers in Microbiology 11 |
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Open Polar |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
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ftpubmed |
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English |
topic |
Microbiology |
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Microbiology Poniecka, Ewa A. Bagshaw, Elizabeth A. Sass, Henrik Segar, Amelia Webster, Gordon Williamson, Christopher Anesio, Alexandre M. Tranter, Martyn Physiological Capabilities of Cryoconite Hole Microorganisms |
topic_facet |
Microbiology |
description |
Cryoconite holes are miniature freshwater aquatic ecosystems that harbor a relatively diverse microbial community. This microbial community can withstand the extreme conditions of the supraglacial environment, including fluctuating temperatures, extreme and varying geochemical conditions and limited nutrients. We analyzed the physiological capabilities of microbial isolates from cryoconite holes from Antarctica, Greenland, and Svalbard in selected environmental conditions: extreme pH, salinity, freeze-thaw and limited carbon sources, to identify their physiological limits. The results suggest that heterotrophic microorganisms in cryoconite holes are well adapted to fast-changing environmental conditions, by surviving multiple freeze-thaw cycles, a wide range of salinity and pH conditions and scavenging a variety of organic substrates. Under oxic and anoxic conditions, the communities grew well in temperatures up to 30°C, although in anoxic conditions the community was more successful at colder temperatures (0.2°C). The most abundant cultivable microorganisms were facultative anaerobic bacteria and yeasts. They grew in salinities up to 10% and in pH ranging from 4 to 10.5 (Antarctica), 2.5 to 10 (Svalbard), and 3 to 10 (Greenland). Their growth was sustained on at least 58 single carbon sources and there was no decrease in viability for some isolates after up to 100 consecutive freeze-thaw cycles. The elevated viability of the anaerobic community in the lowest temperatures indicates they might be key players in winter conditions or in early melt seasons, when the oxygen is potentially depleted due to limited flow of meltwater. Consequently, facultative anaerobic heterotrophs are likely important players in the reactivation of the community after the polar night. This detailed physiological investigation shows that despite inhabiting a freshwater environment, cryoconite microorganisms are able to withstand conditions not typically encountered in freshwater environments (namely high salinities or extreme pH), ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Poniecka, Ewa A. Bagshaw, Elizabeth A. Sass, Henrik Segar, Amelia Webster, Gordon Williamson, Christopher Anesio, Alexandre M. Tranter, Martyn |
author_facet |
Poniecka, Ewa A. Bagshaw, Elizabeth A. Sass, Henrik Segar, Amelia Webster, Gordon Williamson, Christopher Anesio, Alexandre M. Tranter, Martyn |
author_sort |
Poniecka, Ewa A. |
title |
Physiological Capabilities of Cryoconite Hole Microorganisms |
title_short |
Physiological Capabilities of Cryoconite Hole Microorganisms |
title_full |
Physiological Capabilities of Cryoconite Hole Microorganisms |
title_fullStr |
Physiological Capabilities of Cryoconite Hole Microorganisms |
title_full_unstemmed |
Physiological Capabilities of Cryoconite Hole Microorganisms |
title_sort |
physiological capabilities of cryoconite hole microorganisms |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7412143/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32849402 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01783 |
geographic |
Greenland Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Svalbard |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland polar night Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland polar night Svalbard |
op_source |
Front Microbiol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7412143/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32849402 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01783 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2020 Poniecka, Bagshaw, Sass, Segar, Webster, Williamson, Anesio and Tranter. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01783 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
11 |
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