Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth?
About 400 subglacial lakes are known from Antarctica. The question of whether life unique of subglacial lakes exists has been paramount since their discovery. Despite frequent evidence of microbial life mostly from accretion ice, subglacial lakes are characterized by physiologically hostile conditio...
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:430141 2023-07-30T03:58:33+02:00 Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? Thatje, Sven Brown, Alastair Hillenbrand, Claus-dieter 2019-01-15 https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/430141/ English eng Thatje, Sven, Brown, Alastair and Hillenbrand, Claus-dieter (2019) Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? International Journal of Astrobiology, 1-4. (doi:10.1017/S1473550418000356 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1473550418000356>). Article PeerReviewed 2019 ftsouthampton 2023-07-09T22:29:04Z About 400 subglacial lakes are known from Antarctica. The question of whether life unique of subglacial lakes exists has been paramount since their discovery. Despite frequent evidence of microbial life mostly from accretion ice, subglacial lakes are characterized by physiologically hostile conditions to metazoan life, as we know it. Pure water (salinity ≤0.4–1.2%), extreme cold (−3°C), high hydrostatic pressure, areas of limited or no oxygen availability and permanent darkness altogether require physiological adaptations to these harsh conditions. The record of gene sequences including some associated with hydrothermal vents does foster the idea of metazoan life in Lake Vostok. Here, we synthesize the physico-chemical environment surrounding sub-glacial lakes and potential sites of hydrothermal activity and advocate that the physico-chemical stability found at these sites may be the most likely sites for metazoan life to exist. The unique conditions presented by Lake Vostok may also offer an outlook on life to be expected in extra-terrestrial subglacial environments, such as on Jupiter's moon Europa or Saturn's moon Enceladus. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Antarctic Lake Vostok ENVELOPE(106.000,106.000,-77.500,-77.500) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
op_collection_id |
ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
About 400 subglacial lakes are known from Antarctica. The question of whether life unique of subglacial lakes exists has been paramount since their discovery. Despite frequent evidence of microbial life mostly from accretion ice, subglacial lakes are characterized by physiologically hostile conditions to metazoan life, as we know it. Pure water (salinity ≤0.4–1.2%), extreme cold (−3°C), high hydrostatic pressure, areas of limited or no oxygen availability and permanent darkness altogether require physiological adaptations to these harsh conditions. The record of gene sequences including some associated with hydrothermal vents does foster the idea of metazoan life in Lake Vostok. Here, we synthesize the physico-chemical environment surrounding sub-glacial lakes and potential sites of hydrothermal activity and advocate that the physico-chemical stability found at these sites may be the most likely sites for metazoan life to exist. The unique conditions presented by Lake Vostok may also offer an outlook on life to be expected in extra-terrestrial subglacial environments, such as on Jupiter's moon Europa or Saturn's moon Enceladus. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Thatje, Sven Brown, Alastair Hillenbrand, Claus-dieter |
spellingShingle |
Thatje, Sven Brown, Alastair Hillenbrand, Claus-dieter Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? |
author_facet |
Thatje, Sven Brown, Alastair Hillenbrand, Claus-dieter |
author_sort |
Thatje, Sven |
title |
Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? |
title_short |
Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? |
title_full |
Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? |
title_fullStr |
Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? |
title_sort |
prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on earth? |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/430141/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(106.000,106.000,-77.500,-77.500) |
geographic |
Antarctic Lake Vostok |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Lake Vostok |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_relation |
Thatje, Sven, Brown, Alastair and Hillenbrand, Claus-dieter (2019) Prospects for metazoan life in sub-glacial Antarctic lakes: the most extreme life on Earth? International Journal of Astrobiology, 1-4. (doi:10.1017/S1473550418000356 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1473550418000356>). |
_version_ |
1772821328318955520 |