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Archaeal diversity from hydrothermal systems of Deception Island, Antarctica

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Abstract

Antarctica is an extreme continent composed of cold environments but also of several geothermal sites, among them is Deception Island, an active stratovolcano located in the South Shetland archipelago. From this island, few microbiological studies have been performed, and the presence of archaea has not been reported. In order to investigate the archaeal diversity in hydrothermalism from Deception Island, different submarine samples were taken from the flooded caldera. Samples were analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of the 16S rRNA gene in conjunction with culture-dependent methods at hyperthermophilic temperatures. Analysis from DGGE band sequencing showed the presence of archaea belonging to the hyperthermophilic genus Thermococcus and different uncultured archaea closely related to environmental clones from hydrothermal vents. Archaea from the psychrotolerant genus Methanococcoides were also detected. Additionally, we have successfully isolated an anaerobic hyperthermophilic archaeon closely related to Thermococcus celericrescens. Cells were irregular cocci with a diameter between 0.6 and 2 μm and grew at 50–90 °C and at a NaCl concentration of 1–5 %. Here, we present, based on culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches, the first report on archaea from marine hydrothermal sites of Antarctica.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Jorge Rey from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography for his help on collecting the samples used in this work. We also thank to Alissa Cook from the Writing Center of Montana State University for its help improving the language of our manuscript, to Alejandro Munizaga for its help in TEM analysis and to the Instituto Antártico Chileno for its support. This work was funded by the project Innova-Corfo grant #07CN13PXT264, 2008–2012.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fundación Científica y Cultural Biociencia, José Domingo Cañas, 2280, Santiago, Chile

    Maximiliano J. Amenábar, Patricio A. Flores, Benoit Pugin, Freddy A. Boehmwald & Jenny M. Blamey

  2. Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Avenida Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins, 3363, Santiago, Chile

    Patricio A. Flores, Benoit Pugin & Jenny M. Blamey

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  1. Maximiliano J. Amenábar
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  2. Patricio A. Flores
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Correspondence to Maximiliano J. Amenábar.

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Amenábar, M.J., Flores, P.A., Pugin, B. et al. Archaeal diversity from hydrothermal systems of Deception Island, Antarctica. Polar Biol 36, 373–380 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1267-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1267-3

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