Molecular analysis of bacterial diversity in kerosene-based drilling fluid from the deep ice borehole at Vostok, East Antarctica.

Decontamination of ice cores is a critical issue in phylogenetic studies of glacial ice and subglacial lakes. At the Vostok drill site, a total of 3650 m of ice core have now been obtained from the East Antarctic ice sheet. The ice core surface is coated with a hard-to-remove film of impure drilling fluid comprising a mixture of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons and foranes. In the present study we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze the bacterial content of the Vostok drilling fluid sampled from four depths in the borehole. Six phylotypes were identified in three of four samples studied. The two dominant phylotypes recovered from the deepest (3400 and 3600 m) and comparatively warm (-10 degrees C and -6 degrees C, respectively) borehole horizons were from within the genus Sphingomonas, a well-known degrader of polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The remaining phylotypes encountered in all samples proved to be human- or soil-associated bacteria and were presumed to be drilling fluid contaminants of rare occurrence. The results obtained indicate the persistence of bacteria in extremely cold, hydrocarbon-rich environments. They show the potential for contamination of ice and subglacial water samples during lake exploration, and the need to develop a microbiological database of drilling fluid findings.

Antarctic subglacial lake exploration: first results and future plans.

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.

Aerobiology Over Antarctica - A New Initiative for Atmospheric Ecology.

The role of aerial dispersal in shaping patterns of biodiversity remains poorly understood, mainly due to a lack of coordinated efforts in gathering data at appropriate temporal and spatial scales. It has been long known that the rate of dispersal to an ecosystem can significantly influence ecosystem dynamics, and that aerial transport has been identified as an important source of biological input to remote locations. With the considerable effort devoted in recent decades to understanding atmospheric circulation in the south-polar region, a unique opportunity has emerged to investigate the atmospheric ecology of Antarctica, from regional to continental scales. This concept note identifies key questions in Antarctic microbial biogeography and the need for standardized sampling and analysis protocols to address such questions. A consortium of polar aerobiologists is established to bring together researchers with a common interest in the airborne dispersion of microbes and other propagules in the Antarctic, with opportunities for comparative studies in the Arctic.

Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans.

Diverse microbial assemblages inhabit subglacial aquatic environments. While few of these environments have been sampled, data reveal that subglacial organisms gain energy for growth from reduced minerals containing nitrogen, iron, and sulfur. Here we investigate the role of microbially mediated sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW), Antarctica, by examining key genes involved in dissimilatory sulfur oxidation and reduction. The presence of sulfur transformation genes throughout the top 34 cm of SLW sediments changes with depth. SLW surficial sediments were dominated by genes related to known sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophs. Sequences encoding the adenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (APS) reductase gene, involved in both dissimilatory sulfate reduction and sulfur oxidation, were present in all samples and clustered into 16 distinct operational taxonomic units. The majority of APS reductase sequences (74%) clustered with known sulfur oxidizers including those within the "Sideroxydans" and Thiobacillus genera. Reverse-acting dissimilatory sulfite reductase (rDSR) and 16S rRNA gene sequences further support dominance of "Sideroxydans" and Thiobacillus phylotypes in the top 2 cm of SLW sediments. The SLW microbial community has the genetic potential for sulfate reduction which is supported by experimentally measured low rates (1.4 pmol cm(-3)d(-1)) of biologically mediated sulfate reduction and the presence of APS reductase and DSR gene sequences related to Desulfobacteraceae and Desulfotomaculum. Our results also infer the presence of sulfur oxidation, which can be a significant energetic pathway for chemosynthetic biosynthesis in SLW sediments. The water in SLW ultimately flows into the Ross Sea where intermediates from subglacial sulfur transformations can influence the flux of solutes to the Southern Ocean.

Community variability of bacteria in alpine snow (Mont Blanc) containing Saharan dust deposition and their snow colonisation potential.

Microorganisms uplifted during dust storms survive long-range transport in the atmosphere and could colonize high-altitude snow. Bacterial communities in alpine snow on a Mont Blanc glacier, associated with four depositions of Saharan dust during the period 2006-2009, were studied using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and flow cytometry. Also, sand from the Tunisian Sahara, Saharan dust collected in Grenoble and Mont Blanc snow containing no Saharan dust (one sample of each) were analyzed. The bacterial community composition varied significantly in snow containing four dust depositions over a 3-year period. Out of 61 phylotypes recovered from dusty snow, only three phylotypes were detected in more than one sample. Overall, 15 phylotypes were recognized as potential snow colonizers. For snow samples, these phylotypes belonged to Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria, while for Saharan sand/dust samples they belonged to Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Deinococcus-Thermus and Proteobacteria. Thus, regardless of the time-scale, Saharan dust events can bring different microbiota with no common species set to alpine glaciers. This seems to be defined more by event peculiarities and aeolian transport conditions than by the bacterial load from the original dust source.