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Analyses of soil bacterial diversity of the Schirmacher Oasis, Antarctica

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Abstract

Schirmacher Oasis, Antarctica, is a region with relatively large exposed area and consisted of many freshwater lakes. Nevertheless, only a few studies were done on the bacterial diversity of this region. Hence, this project was undertaken to determine the bacterial community in soil samples collected from the Schirmacher Oasis using the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of amplified 16S rDNA fragments. A total of 79 partial 16S rDNA sequences were obtained from the excised DGGE bands, which corresponded to 63 different operational taxonomic units (OTUs) representing bacteria from seven different phyla. The most dominant phyla in descending order were Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes, Cyanobacteria and BRC1. There were 5.4 % of unclassified bacteria which cannot be grouped into any of the existing phyla. Eighty-seven percent of the OTUs had highest similarity with the uncultured bacteria from the NCBI GenBank database. Thirty-two percent of the OTUs were similar to bacteria reported in other parts of the Antarctica, while the others were related to bacteria found elsewhere outside the Antarctic.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Academic Sciences of Malaysia (ASM) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Malaysia for funding this research project (Research Grant No. 95500-66) and the National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa, India, for providing the logistic supports for the sample collections. We would also like to thank Jacqueline Yong for reading and correcting the final draft of the manuscript.

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  1. Biotechnology Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

    Jenny Kim Chee Teo & Clemente Michael Vui Ling Wong

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  1. Jenny Kim Chee Teo
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  2. Clemente Michael Vui Ling Wong
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Correspondence to Clemente Michael Vui Ling Wong.

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Teo, J.K.C., Wong, C.M.V.L. Analyses of soil bacterial diversity of the Schirmacher Oasis, Antarctica. Polar Biol 37, 631–640 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-014-1463-4

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