The microbiome of cryospheric ecosystems

The melting of the cryosphere is among the most conspicuous consequences of climate change, with impacts on microbial life and related biogeochemistry. However, we are missing a systematic understanding of microbiome structure and function across cryospheric ecosystems. Here, we present a global inv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Bourquin, Massimo, Busi, Susheel Bhanu, Fodelianakis, Stilianos, Peter, Hannes, Washburne, Alex, Kohler, Tyler J., Ezzat, Leïla, Michoud, Grégoire, Wilmes, Paul, Battin, Tom J.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Subjects:
Article
Ice
permafrost
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9163120/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35655063
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30816-4
Description
Summary:The melting of the cryosphere is among the most conspicuous consequences of climate change, with impacts on microbial life and related biogeochemistry. However, we are missing a systematic understanding of microbiome structure and function across cryospheric ecosystems. Here, we present a global inventory of the microbiome from snow, ice, permafrost soils, and both coastal and freshwater ecosystems under glacier influence. Combining phylogenetic and taxonomic approaches, we find that these cryospheric ecosystems, despite their particularities, share a microbiome with representatives across the bacterial tree of life and apparent signatures of early and constrained radiation. In addition, we use metagenomic analyses to define the genetic repertoire of cryospheric bacteria. Our work provides a reference resource for future studies on climate change microbiology.

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