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Extremophile hypolithic communities in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica

Part of: The Vestfold Hills

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2024

Laurence J. Clarke Open the ORCID record for Laurence J. Clarke [Opens in a new window] ,
Eric J. Raes Open the ORCID record for Eric J. Raes [Opens in a new window] ,
Toby Travers Open the ORCID record for Toby Travers [Opens in a new window] ,
Patti Virtue Open the ORCID record for Patti Virtue [Opens in a new window]  and
Dana M. Bergstrom Open the ORCID record for Dana M. Bergstrom [Opens in a new window]
Laurence J. Clarke
Affiliation:
Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Battery Point, Tasmania, Australia
Eric J. Raes
Affiliation:
Minderoo Foundation, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Toby Travers
Affiliation:
Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
Patti Virtue
Affiliation:
Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Battery Point, Tasmania, Australia CSIRO Environment, Castray Esplanade, Battery Point, Tasmania, Australia
Dana M. Bergstrom*
Affiliation:
Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia School of Atmospheric, Earth and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia Centre for Ecological Genomics and Wildlife Conservation, Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
*
danab@uow.edu.au
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Abstract

The Vestfold Hills are a 400 km2, isolated ice-free oasis in eastern Antarctica featuring large areas with translucent quartz rocks that provide habitat for hypolithic microbial communities underneath. We used high-throughput DNA sequencing of 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA amplicons to characterize bacterial and eukaryotic hypolithic communities across the Vestfold Hills. We found high-level, local heterogeneity in community structure consistent with limited dispersal between hypoliths. Hypolithic communities were dominated by heterotrophic Bacteroidetes (mean bacterial relative read abundance: 56%) as well as Cyanobacteria (35%), with the eukaryote component often dominated by Chlorophyta (43%). Small but significant proportions of the variation in microbial community composition and function were explained by soil salinity (5–7%) and water availability (8–11%), with distinct taxa associated with different salinities and water availabilities. Furthermore, many inferred bacterial metabolic pathways were enriched in hypolithic communities from either dry or high-salinity sites. Vestfold Hills hypolithic habitats are likely to be local refuges for bacterial and eukaryotic diversity. Gradients in soil salinity and water availability across the Vestfold Hills, in addition to the number and diversity of lake types and fjords as potential source populations, may contribute to the observed variation in the extremophile, hypolithic microbial community composition.

Keywords

16S/18S ribosomal RNA genebacteriaCyanobacteriadispersal limitationeukaryotehigh-throughput DNA sequencing
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , February 2024 , pp. 20 - 36
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antarctic Science Ltd

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