Yeasts in high Arctic glaciers: the discovery of a new habitat for eukaryotic microorganisms |
| |
Authors: | Lorena Butinar Isabel Spencer-Martins Nina Gunde-Cimerman |
| |
Institution: | (1) Laboratory of Biotechnology, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia;(2) Centro de Recursos Microbiológicos (CREM), Biotechnology Unit, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal;(3) Biology Department, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Večna pot 111, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| |
Abstract: | Recently a new habitat for microbial life has been discovered at the base of polythermal glaciers. In ice from these subglacial
environments so far only non-photosynthetic bacterial communities were discovered, but no eukaryotic microorganisms. We found
high numbers of yeast cells, amounting to a maximum of 4,000 CFU ml−1 of melt ice, in four different high Arctic glaciers. Twenty-two distinct species were isolated, including two new yeast species.
Basidiomycetes predominated, among which Cryptococcus liquefaciens was the dominant species (ca. 90% of total). Other frequently occurring species were Cryptococcus albidus, Cryptococcus magnus, Cryptococcus saitoi and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa. The dominant yeast species were psychrotolerant, halotolerant, freeze-thaw resistant, unable to form mycelium, relatively
small-sized and able to utilize a wide range of carbon and nitrogen sources. This is the first report on the presence of yeast
populations in subglacial ice. |
| |
Keywords: | Arctic Glacier ice Eukaryotes Polythermal glacier Subglacial environments Yeast biodiversity |
本文献已被 PubMed SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|