The Enigmatic Snow Microorganism, Chionaster nivalis, Is Closely Related to Bartheletia paradoxa (Agaricomycotina, Basidiomycota)

• Published in: Microbes and Environments
• Main Authors: Matsuzaki, Ryo, Takashima, Yusuke, Suzuki, Iwane, Kawachi, Masanobu, Nozaki, Hisayoshi, Nohara, Seiichi, Degawa, Yousuke
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Japanese Society of Microbial Ecology / Japanese Society of Soil Microbiology / Taiwan Society of Microbial Ecology / Japanese Society of Plant Microbe Interactions / Japanese Society for Extremophiles 2021
• Subjects: Short Communication; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8209449/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34135204; https://doi.org/10.1264/jsme2.ME21011

Chionaster nivalis is frequently detected in thawing snowpacks and glaciers. However, the taxonomic position of this species above the genus level remains unclear. We herein conducted molecular analyses of C. nivalis using the ribosomal RNA operon sequences obtained from more than 200 cells of this species isolated from a field-collected material. Our molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that C. nivalis is a sister to Bartheletia paradoxa, which is an orphan basal lineage of Agaricomycotina. We also showed that C. nivalis sequences were contained in several previously examined meta-amplicon sequence datasets from snowpacks and glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere and Antarctica.