Abstract
Cultivation techniques were used to study the heterotrophic bacterial diversity in two microbial mat samples originating from the littoral zone of two continental Antarctic lakes (Forlidas Pond and Lundström Lake) in the Dufek Massif (within the Pensacola Mountains group of the Transantarctic Mountains) and Shackleton Range, respectively. Nearly 800 isolates were picked after incubation on several growth media at different temperatures. They were grouped using a whole-genome fingerprinting technique, repetitive element palindromic PCR and partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis of the complete 16S rRNA gene sequences of 82 representatives showed that the isolates belonged to four major phylogenetic groups: Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. A relatively large difference between the samples was apparent. Forlidas Pond is a completely frozen water body underlain by hypersaline brine, with summer thaw forming a slightly saline littoral moat. This was reflected in the bacterial diversity with a dominance of isolates belonging to Firmicutes, whereas isolates from the freshwater Lundström Lake revealed a dominance of Actinobacteria. A total of 42 different genera were recovered, including first records from Antarctica for Albidiferax, Bosea, Curvibacter, Luteimonas, Ornithinibacillus, Pseudoxanthomonas, Sphingopyxis and Spirosoma. Additionally, a considerable number of potential new species and new genera were recovered distributed over different phylogenetic groups. For several species where previously only the type strain was available in cultivation, we report additional strains. Comparison with public databases showed that overall, 72% of the phylotypes are cosmopolitan whereas 23% are currently only known from Antarctica. However, for the Bacteroidetes, the majority of the phylotypes recovered are at present known only from Antarctica and many of these represent previously unknown species.
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Acknowledgements
Fieldwork by DAH and PC was supported by the British Antarctic Survey. This study was carried out in the framework of AMBIO, a project funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BelSPO) that contributes to IPY research proposal nr. 55 MERGE (Microbiological and Ecological Responses to Global Environmental Changes in Polar Regions). We thank the AMBIO project coordinator Annick Wilmotte. We are grateful to E. Verleyen and K. Van Hoorde for helpful discussion. The study also contributes to the BAS ‘Polar Science for Planet Earth’ and SCAR ‘Evolution and Biodiversity in Antarctica’ programmes.
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Fig. S4
Phylogenetic tree based on neighbour-joining analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities indicating positions of the two phylotypes related to L. rubra. Phylotypes are indicated in bold type. The numbers at branch nodes are bootstrap values shown as percentages of 500 bootstrap replicates (only values >50% are shown). Transfer of L. aurea to the genus Rhodoglobus was recently proposed [4] but not yet validated (PDF 743 kb)
Fig. S5
Phylogenetic tree based on neighbour-joining analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities indicating positions of the two phylotypes related to S. antarctica. Phylotypes are indicated in bold type. The numbers at branch nodes are bootstrap values shown as percentages of 500 bootstrap replicates (only values >50% are shown) (PDF 676 kb)
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Peeters, K., Hodgson, D.A., Convey, P. et al. Culturable Diversity of Heterotrophic Bacteria in Forlidas Pond (Pensacola Mountains) and Lundström Lake (Shackleton Range), Antarctica. Microb Ecol 62, 399–413 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-011-9842-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-011-9842-7