Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community
Background Cold environments dominate the Earths biosphere and microbial activity drives ecosystem processes thereby contributing greatly to global biogeochemical cycles. Polar environments differ to all other cold environments by experiencing 24-h sunlight in summer and no sunlight in winter. The V...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00889-8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32772914 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/142936 |
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:142936 2023-05-15T13:59:46+02:00 Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community Panwar, P Allen, MA Williams, TJ Hancock, A Brazendale, S Bevington, J Roux, S Paez-Espino, D Nayfach, S Berg, M Schulz, F Chen, IMA Huntemann, M Shapiro, N Kyrpides, NC Woyke, T Eloe-Fadrosh, EA Cavicchioli, R 2020 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00889-8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32772914 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/142936 en eng BioMed Central Ltd. http://ecite.utas.edu.au/142936/1/142936 - Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00889-8 Panwar, P and Allen, MA and Williams, TJ and Hancock, A and Brazendale, S and Bevington, J and Roux, S and Paez-Espino, D and Nayfach, S and Berg, M and Schulz, F and Chen, IMA and Huntemann, M and Shapiro, N and Kyrpides, NC and Woyke, T and Eloe-Fadrosh, EA and Cavicchioli, R, Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community, Microbiome, 8, (1) Article 116. ISSN 2049-2618 (2020) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32772914 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/142936 Biological Sciences Genetics Genomics Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00889-8 2021-06-01T00:17:50Z Background Cold environments dominate the Earths biosphere and microbial activity drives ecosystem processes thereby contributing greatly to global biogeochemical cycles. Polar environments differ to all other cold environments by experiencing 24-h sunlight in summer and no sunlight in winter. The Vestfold Hills in East Antarctica contains hundreds of lakes that have evolved from a marine origin only 30007000 years ago. Ace Lake is a meromictic (stratified) lake from this region that has been intensively studied since the 1970s. Here, a total of 120 metagenomes representing a seasonal cycle and four summers spanning a 10-year period were analyzed to determine the effects of the polar light cycle on microbial-driven nutrient cycles. Results The lake system is characterized by complex sulfur and hydrogen cycling, especially in the anoxic layers, with multiple mechanisms for the breakdown of biopolymers present throughout the water column. The two most abundant taxa are phototrophs (green sulfur bacteria and cyanobacteria) that are highly influenced by the seasonal availability of sunlight. The extent of the Chlorobium biomass thriving at the interface in summer was captured in underwater video footage. The Chlorobium abundance dropped from up to 83% in summer to 6% in winter and 1% in spring, before rebounding to high levels. Predicted Chlorobium viruses and cyanophage were also abundant, but their levels did not negatively correlate with their hosts. Conclusion Over-wintering expeditions in Antarctica are logistically challenging, meaning insight into winter processes has been inferred from limited data. Here, we found that in contrast to chemolithoautotrophic carbon fixation potential of Southern Ocean Thaumarchaeota, this marine-derived lake evolved a reliance on photosynthesis. While viruses associated with phototrophs also have high seasonal abundance, the negative impact of viral infection on host growth appeared to be limited. The microbial community as a whole appears to have developed a capacity to generate biomass and remineralize nutrients, sufficient to sustain itself between two rounds of sunlight-driven summer-activity. In addition, this unique metagenome dataset provides considerable opportunity for future interrogation of eukaryotes and their viruses, abundant uncharacterized taxa (i.e. dark matter), and for testing hypotheses about endemic species in polar aquatic ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Southern Ocean eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Antarctic Southern Ocean East Antarctica Vestfold Hills Vestfold Ace Lake ENVELOPE(78.188,78.188,-68.472,-68.472) Microbiome 8 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Biological Sciences Genetics Genomics |
spellingShingle |
Biological Sciences Genetics Genomics Panwar, P Allen, MA Williams, TJ Hancock, A Brazendale, S Bevington, J Roux, S Paez-Espino, D Nayfach, S Berg, M Schulz, F Chen, IMA Huntemann, M Shapiro, N Kyrpides, NC Woyke, T Eloe-Fadrosh, EA Cavicchioli, R Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences Genetics Genomics |
description |
Background Cold environments dominate the Earths biosphere and microbial activity drives ecosystem processes thereby contributing greatly to global biogeochemical cycles. Polar environments differ to all other cold environments by experiencing 24-h sunlight in summer and no sunlight in winter. The Vestfold Hills in East Antarctica contains hundreds of lakes that have evolved from a marine origin only 30007000 years ago. Ace Lake is a meromictic (stratified) lake from this region that has been intensively studied since the 1970s. Here, a total of 120 metagenomes representing a seasonal cycle and four summers spanning a 10-year period were analyzed to determine the effects of the polar light cycle on microbial-driven nutrient cycles. Results The lake system is characterized by complex sulfur and hydrogen cycling, especially in the anoxic layers, with multiple mechanisms for the breakdown of biopolymers present throughout the water column. The two most abundant taxa are phototrophs (green sulfur bacteria and cyanobacteria) that are highly influenced by the seasonal availability of sunlight. The extent of the Chlorobium biomass thriving at the interface in summer was captured in underwater video footage. The Chlorobium abundance dropped from up to 83% in summer to 6% in winter and 1% in spring, before rebounding to high levels. Predicted Chlorobium viruses and cyanophage were also abundant, but their levels did not negatively correlate with their hosts. Conclusion Over-wintering expeditions in Antarctica are logistically challenging, meaning insight into winter processes has been inferred from limited data. Here, we found that in contrast to chemolithoautotrophic carbon fixation potential of Southern Ocean Thaumarchaeota, this marine-derived lake evolved a reliance on photosynthesis. While viruses associated with phototrophs also have high seasonal abundance, the negative impact of viral infection on host growth appeared to be limited. The microbial community as a whole appears to have developed a capacity to generate biomass and remineralize nutrients, sufficient to sustain itself between two rounds of sunlight-driven summer-activity. In addition, this unique metagenome dataset provides considerable opportunity for future interrogation of eukaryotes and their viruses, abundant uncharacterized taxa (i.e. dark matter), and for testing hypotheses about endemic species in polar aquatic ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Panwar, P Allen, MA Williams, TJ Hancock, A Brazendale, S Bevington, J Roux, S Paez-Espino, D Nayfach, S Berg, M Schulz, F Chen, IMA Huntemann, M Shapiro, N Kyrpides, NC Woyke, T Eloe-Fadrosh, EA Cavicchioli, R |
author_facet |
Panwar, P Allen, MA Williams, TJ Hancock, A Brazendale, S Bevington, J Roux, S Paez-Espino, D Nayfach, S Berg, M Schulz, F Chen, IMA Huntemann, M Shapiro, N Kyrpides, NC Woyke, T Eloe-Fadrosh, EA Cavicchioli, R |
author_sort |
Panwar, P |
title |
Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community |
title_short |
Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community |
title_full |
Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community |
title_fullStr |
Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community |
title_sort |
influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an antarctic lake microbial community |
publisher |
BioMed Central Ltd. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00889-8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32772914 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/142936 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(78.188,78.188,-68.472,-68.472) |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean East Antarctica Vestfold Hills Vestfold Ace Lake |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean East Antarctica Vestfold Hills Vestfold Ace Lake |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/142936/1/142936 - Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00889-8 Panwar, P and Allen, MA and Williams, TJ and Hancock, A and Brazendale, S and Bevington, J and Roux, S and Paez-Espino, D and Nayfach, S and Berg, M and Schulz, F and Chen, IMA and Huntemann, M and Shapiro, N and Kyrpides, NC and Woyke, T and Eloe-Fadrosh, EA and Cavicchioli, R, Influence of the polar light cycle on seasonal dynamics of an Antarctic lake microbial community, Microbiome, 8, (1) Article 116. ISSN 2049-2618 (2020) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32772914 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/142936 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00889-8 |
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Microbiome |
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8 |
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