scholarly journals Metatranscriptomic and Metagenomic Analysis of Biological Diversity in Subglacial Lake Vostok (Antarctica)

Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colby Gura ◽  
Scott O. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Lake Water ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Nutrient Sources ◽  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Accretion Ice

A combined metatranscriptomic and metagenomic study of Vostok (Antarctica) ice core sections from glacial, basal, and lake water accretion ice yielded sequences that indicated a wide variety of species and possible conditions at the base of the glacier and in subglacial Lake Vostok. Few organisms were in common among the basal ice and accretion ice samples, suggesting little transmission of viable organisms from the basal ice meltwater into the lake water. Additionally, samples of accretion ice, each of which originated from water in several locations of the shallow embayment, exhibit only small amounts of mixing of species. The western-most portion of the embayment had very low numbers of organisms, likely due to biologically challenging conditions. Increasing numbers of organisms were found progressing from west to east, up to approximately 7 km into the embayment. At that point, the numbers of unique sequences and sequence reads from thermophilic, thermotolerant, psychrophilic, and psychrotolerant organisms increased dramatically, as did sequences from alkaliphilic, alkalitolerant, acidophilic, and acidotolerant sequences. The number of unique and total sequences were positively associated with increases in concentrations of Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, SO42−, Cl−, total amino acids, and non-purgeable organic carbon. The numbers of unique sequences from organisms reported from soil, sediment, ice, aquatic, marine, animal, and plant (probably pollen) sources also peaked in this region, suggesting that this was the most biologically active region. The confluence of the high numbers of organisms, physiologies, and metabolic capabilities suggests the presence of energy and nutrient sources in the eastern half of the embayment. Data from the main basin suggested a cold oligotrophic environment containing fewer organisms. In addition to bacteria, both the basal ice and accretion ice contained sequences from a diverse assemblage of eukaryotes, as well as from bacteria that are known to be associated with multicellular eukaryotes.

scholarly journals Antarctic subglacial lake exploration: first results and future plans

2016 ◽  
Vol 374 (2059) ◽  
pp. 20140466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin J. Siegert ◽  
John C. Priscu ◽  
Irina A. Alekhina ◽  
Jemma L. Wadham ◽  
W. Berry Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Lake Water ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Microbial Life ◽  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake ◽  
Coastal Margin ◽  
First Results ◽  
Scientific Results ◽  
Subglacial Lakes

After more than a decade of planning, three attempts were made in 2012–2013 to access, measure in situ properties and directly sample subglacial Antarctic lake environments. First, Russian scientists drilled into the top of Lake Vostok, allowing lake water to infiltrate, and freeze within, the lower part of the ice-core borehole, from which further coring would recover a frozen sample of surface lake water. Second, UK engineers tried unsuccessfully to deploy a clean-access hot-water drill, to sample the water column and sediments of subglacial Lake Ellsworth. Third, a US mission successfully drilled cleanly into subglacial Lake Whillans, a shallow hydraulically active lake at the coastal margin of West Antarctica, obtaining samples that would later be used to prove the existence of microbial life and active biogeochemical cycling beneath the ice sheet. This article summarizes the results of these programmes in terms of the scientific results obtained, the operational knowledge gained and the engineering challenges revealed, to collate what is known about Antarctic subglacial environments and how to explore them in future. While results from Lake Whillans testify to subglacial lakes as being viable biological habitats, the engineering challenges to explore deeper more isolated lakes where unique microorganisms and climate records may be found, as exemplified in the Lake Ellsworth and Vostok missions, are considerable. Through international cooperation, and by using equipment and knowledge of the existing subglacial lake exploration programmes, it is possible that such environments could be explored thoroughly, and at numerous sites, in the near future.

scholarly journals Microbiology of the subglacial Lake Vostok: first results of borehole-frozen lake water analysis and prospects for searching for lake inhabitants

2016 ◽  
Vol 374 (2059) ◽  
pp. 20140292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey A. Bulat
Keyword(s):  
Lake Water ◽  
Water Samples ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Microbial Life ◽  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
First Results ◽  
Accretion Ice ◽  
First Time

This article examines the question of the possible existence of microbial life inhabiting the subglacial Lake Vostok buried beneath a 4 km thick Antarctic ice sheet. It represents the results of analysis of the only available frozen lake water samples obtained upon the first lake entry and subsequent re-coring the water frozen within the borehole. For comparison, results obtained by earlier molecular microbiological studies of accretion ice are included in this study, with the focus on thermophiles and an unknown bacterial phylotype. A description of two Lake Vostok penetrations is presented for the first time from the point of view of possible clean water sampling. Finally, the results of current studies of Lake Vostok frozen water samples are presented, with the focus on the discovery of another unknown bacterial phylotype w123-10 distantly related to the above-mentioned unknown phylotype AF532061 detected in Vostok accretion ice, both successfully passing all possible controls for contamination. The use of clean-room facilities and the establishment of a contaminant library are considered to be prerequisites for research on microorganisms from Lake Vostok. It seems that not yet recorded microbial life could exist within the Lake Vostok water body. In conclusion, the prospects for searching for lake inhabitants are expressed with the intention to sample the lake water as cleanly as possible in order to make sure that further results will be robust.

scholarly journals ISOTOPIC REGIME OF SUBGLACIAL LAKE VOSTOK ON EVIDENCE FROM DEEP ICE CORE STUDIES

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
A. A. Ekaykin ◽  
V. Ya. Lipenkov ◽  
A. V. Kozachek
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake

Chapter 17. Comparative Biological Analyses of Accretion Ice from Subglacial Lake Vostok

2005 ◽  
pp. 251-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Bell ◽  
Michael Studinger ◽  
Anahita Tikku ◽  
John D. Castello
Keyword(s):  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake ◽  
Accretion Ice

scholarly journals Ecology of Subglacial Lake Vostok (Antarctica), Based on Metagenomic/Metatranscriptomic Analyses of Accretion Ice

Biology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 629-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Rogers ◽  
Yury Shtarkman ◽  
Zeynep Koçer ◽  
Robyn Edgar ◽  
Ram Veerapaneni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake ◽  
Accretion Ice

Presence of Hydrogenophilus thermoluteolus DNA in accretion ice in the subglacial Lake Vostok, Antarctica, assessed using rrs, cbb and hox

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2106-2114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline Lavire ◽  
Philippe Normand ◽  
Irina Alekhina ◽  
Serguey Bulat ◽  
Daniel Prieur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake ◽  
Accretion Ice

scholarly journals Subglacial Lake Vostok (Antarctica) Accretion Ice Contains a Diverse Set of Sequences from Aquatic, Marine and Sediment-Inhabiting Bacteria and Eukarya

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. e67221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yury M. Shtarkman ◽  
Zeynep A. Koçer ◽  
Robyn Edgar ◽  
Ram S. Veerapaneni ◽  
Tom D’Elia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake ◽  
Accretion Ice

scholarly journals Isolation of Microbes from Lake Vostok Accretion Ice

2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (15) ◽  
pp. 4962-4965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom D'Elia ◽  
Ram Veerapaneni ◽  
Scott O. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Microbial Ecosystem ◽  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Cell Concentrations ◽  
Accretion Ice

ABSTRACT Bacteria from seven Lake Vostok accretion and two deep glacial Vostok ice core sections were characterized. The cell concentrations were low, but many of the cells were viable. From the hundreds of cultures, 18 unique bacterial rRNA gene phylotypes were determined. Lake Vostok may contain a complex microbial ecosystem.

First Characterization and Dating of East Antarctic Bedrock Inclusions from Subglacial Lake Vostok Accreted Ice

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Delmonte ◽  
Jean R. Petit ◽  
Isabelle Basile-Doelsch ◽  
Vladimir Lipenkov ◽  
Valter Maggi
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Geological Investigation ◽  
Mineralogical Characterization ◽  
Antarctic Plateau ◽  
Rock Fragments ◽  
Lake Vostok ◽  
Subglacial Lake ◽  
History Of

Environmental Context.Lake Vostok is a large subglacial lake trapped below the East Antarctic ice sheet. The meteoric ice from deep Vostok ice cores has been used to document the climatic history of the Earth over hundreds of millennia, while the deeper part of the core preserves some basal rock fragments. These rock fragments represent unique geological samples of the inhospitable, ice-covered East Antarctic Plateau. Abstract.The Vostok (East Antarctica, 78°S, 106°E) ice core preserves, below the meteoric ice keeping the climatic memory of the last 420 000 years, ice formed by freezing of subglacial Lake Vostok water. This latter contains some bedrock fragments representing unique samples for the geological investigation of the East Antarctic Plateau, covered by ~2–4 km of ice. The first geochemical (87Sr/86Sr versus 143Nd/144Nd) and mineralogical characterization of these inclusions as well as the dating of one of them (Nd model age on whole-rock sample) has given evidence for a Mid-Proterozoic age of the basement lying below the ice sheet, consistent with recent geophysical data. The geochemical characteristics of bedrock inclusions within the accreted ice zone are markedly different from those of the mineral dust of aeolian origin archived in the uppermost part of the Vostok ice core and originating from deflation of the Southern Hemisphere continents, and easily discriminates between the two contributions.

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