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Prokaryotic assemblages in the maritime Antarctic Lake Limnopolar (Byers Peninsula, South Shetland Islands)

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Abstract

The potentially metabolically active components within the prokaryotic assemblages inhabiting the Antarctic Lake Limnopolar (Byers Peninsula, Maritime Antarctica) were investigated by a polyphasic approach which included culture-dependent and culture-independent methods (based on RNA molecules). Results support previous observations on the Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes dominance, followed by Actinobacteria, in Antarctic lakes. In particular, Alpha-, Betaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were mainly detected by CARD-FISH and cDNA cloning, whereas Gammaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria dominated within the cultivable fraction. Overall, this study demonstrates the survival potential and physiological heterogeneity of the prokaryotic community in the Lake Limnopolar. The microbial community composition in the lake is affected by external influences (such as marine environment by sea spray and seabird dropping, and microbial mats and mosses of the catchment). However, most external bacteria would be inactive, whereas typical polar taxa dominate the potentially active fraction and are subsidized by external nutrient sources, thus assuming the main biogeochemical roles within the lake.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all the members of the LIMNOPOLAR Team for their support, as well as to the crew of the ship Las Palmas (Spanish Navy) and the Marine Technology Unit (UTM-CSIC) for logistic support. L. Michaud is particularly indebted to Mr. Hilo Moreno for his professional and enthusiastic help and support, which made sampling possible. The authors thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions on the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Deceased: L. Michaud.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche ed Ambientali, Università di Messina, Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, 98166, Messina, Italy

    M. Papale, C. Rizzo, L. Michaud & A. Lo Giudice

  2. Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidad de Valencia, Apartado de Correos 22085, 46071, Valencia, Spain

    J. A. Villescusa, C. Rochera & A. Camacho

  3. Institute for the Coastal Marine Environment, National Research Council (IAMC-CNR), Spianata S. Raineri 86, 98122, Messina, Italy

    A. Lo Giudice

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  1. M. Papale
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Correspondence to A. Lo Giudice.

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Funding

This work was supported by Grants from PNRA (Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide), Italian Ministry of Education and Research (PEA 2004, Research Project PNRA 2004/1.6); MNA (Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide); Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, with one of them co-financed by the European FEDER funds (POL2006-06635 and CGL2005-06549-C02-02/ANT).

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Papale, M., Rizzo, C., Villescusa, J.A. et al. Prokaryotic assemblages in the maritime Antarctic Lake Limnopolar (Byers Peninsula, South Shetland Islands). Extremophiles 21, 947–961 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-017-0955-x

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