The Characterization of Psychrophilic Microorganisms and their potentially useful Cold-Active Glycosidases Final Progress Report

• Main Author: Brenchly, Jean E.
• Other Authors: United States. Department of Energy. Office of Science.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 2008
• Subjects: Microorganisms; Progress Report Psychrophilic Microorganisms Cold-Active Glycosidases; 59 Basic Biological Sciences; Detection; Psychrophilic Microorganisms Cold-Active Glycosidases; Cell Cultures; Arctic Regions; Size; Arctic; Greenland; glacier; ice core
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2172/959114; http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc934690/

Our studies of novel, cold-loving microorganisms have focused on two distinct extreme environments. The first is an ice core sample from a 120,000 year old Greenland glacier. The results of this study are particularly exciting and have been highlighted with press releases and additional coverage. The first press release in 2004 was based on our presentation at the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology and was augmented by coverage of our publication (Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2005. Vol. 71:7806) in the Current Topics section of the ASM news journal, “Microbe.” Of special interest for this report was the isolation of numerous, phylogenetically distinct and potentially novel ultrasmall microorganisms. The detection and isolation of members of the ultrasmall population is significant because these cells pass through 0.2 micron pore filters that are generally used to trap microorganisms from environmental samples. Thus, analyses by other investigators that examined only cells captured on the filters would have missed a significant portion of this population. Only a few ultrasmall isolates had been obtained prior to our examination of the ice core samples. Our development of a filtration enrichment and subsequent cultivation of these organisms has added extensively to the collection of, and knowledge about, this important population in the microbial world.