An oligarchic microbial assemblage in the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic subglacial lake

Eric Gaidos; Viggo Marteinsson; Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson; Tomas Jóhannesson; Árni Rafn Rúnarsson; Andri Stefansson; Brian Glazer; Brian Lanoil; Mark Skidmore; Sukkyun Han; Mary Miller; Antje Rusch; Wilson Foo

doi:10.1038/ismej.2008.124

An oligarchic microbial assemblage in the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic subglacial lake

Eric Gaidos^*, Viggo Marteinsson, Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, Tomas Jóhannesson, Árni Rafn Rúnarsson, Andri Stefansson, Brian Glazer, Brian Lanoil, Mark Skidmore, Sukkyun Han, Mary Miller, Antje Rusch, Wilson Foo

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

48 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In 2006, we sampled the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic lake beneath the Vatnajökull ice cap (Iceland). The sample contained 5 × 10 ⁵ cells per ml, and whole-cell fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and PCR with domain-specific probes showed these to be essentially all bacteria, with no detectable archaea. Pyrosequencing of the V6 hypervariable region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, Sanger sequencing of a clone library and FISH-based enumeration of four major phylotypes revealed that the assemblage was dominated by a few groups of putative chemotrophic bacteria whose closest cultivated relatives use sulfide, sulfur or hydrogen as electron donors, and oxygen, sulfate or CO"2 as electron acceptors. Hundreds of other phylotypes are present at lower abundance in our V6 tag libraries and a rarefaction analysis indicates that sampling did not reach saturation, but FISH data limit the remaining biome to <10-20 of all cells. The composition of this oligarchy can be understood in the context of the chemical disequilibrium created by the mixing of sulfidic lake water and oxygenated glacial meltwater.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	486-497
Number of pages	12
Journal	ISME Journal
Volume	3
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2008.124
Publication status	Published - Apr 2009

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through the NASA Astrobiology Institute under Cooperative Agreement no. NNA04CC08A issued through the Office of Space Science and by the Icelandic Centre for Research. The Icelandic National Energy Authority, National Power Company and Public Roads Administration provided logistical support. Members of the Icelandic Glaciological Society assisted in the field campaign on Vatnajökull. The NAI lead team at the Marine Biological Laboratory performed pyrosequencing, and Mitch Sogin, Hilary Morrison and Sue Huse assisted with procedures and analysis. Ruth Richardson provided an enrichment culture for FISH. Brian Popp and Terri Rust measured POM.

Other keywords

Acetogenesis
Anoxia
Extreme environments
Microbial diversity
Psychrophily
Sulfide oxidation

Access to Document

10.1038/ismej.2008.124

Cite this

@article{d5a5801534e64395af7ce031767b94ad,

title = "An oligarchic microbial assemblage in the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic subglacial lake",

abstract = "In 2006, we sampled the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic lake beneath the Vatnaj{\"o}kull ice cap (Iceland). The sample contained 5 × 10 5 cells per ml, and whole-cell fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and PCR with domain-specific probes showed these to be essentially all bacteria, with no detectable archaea. Pyrosequencing of the V6 hypervariable region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, Sanger sequencing of a clone library and FISH-based enumeration of four major phylotypes revealed that the assemblage was dominated by a few groups of putative chemotrophic bacteria whose closest cultivated relatives use sulfide, sulfur or hydrogen as electron donors, and oxygen, sulfate or CO{"}2 as electron acceptors. Hundreds of other phylotypes are present at lower abundance in our V6 tag libraries and a rarefaction analysis indicates that sampling did not reach saturation, but FISH data limit the remaining biome to <10-20 of all cells. The composition of this oligarchy can be understood in the context of the chemical disequilibrium created by the mixing of sulfidic lake water and oxygenated glacial meltwater.",

keywords = "Acetogenesis, Anoxia, Extreme environments, Microbial diversity, Psychrophily, Sulfide oxidation",

author = "Eric Gaidos and Viggo Marteinsson and Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson and Tomas J{\'o}hannesson and R{\'u}narsson, {{\'A}rni Rafn} and Andri Stefansson and Brian Glazer and Brian Lanoil and Mark Skidmore and Sukkyun Han and Mary Miller and Antje Rusch and Wilson Foo",

note = "Funding Information: This material is based upon work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through the NASA Astrobiology Institute under Cooperative Agreement no. NNA04CC08A issued through the Office of Space Science and by the Icelandic Centre for Research. The Icelandic National Energy Authority, National Power Company and Public Roads Administration provided logistical support. Members of the Icelandic Glaciological Society assisted in the field campaign on Vatnaj{\"o}kull. The NAI lead team at the Marine Biological Laboratory performed pyrosequencing, and Mitch Sogin, Hilary Morrison and Sue Huse assisted with procedures and analysis. Ruth Richardson provided an enrichment culture for FISH. Brian Popp and Terri Rust measured POM.",

year = "2009",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1038/ismej.2008.124",

language = "English",

volume = "3",

pages = "486--497",

journal = "ISME Journal",

issn = "1751-7362",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - An oligarchic microbial assemblage in the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic subglacial lake

AU - Gaidos, Eric

AU - Marteinsson, Viggo

AU - Thorsteinsson, Thorsteinn

AU - Jóhannesson, Tomas

AU - Rúnarsson, Árni Rafn

AU - Stefansson, Andri

AU - Glazer, Brian

AU - Lanoil, Brian

AU - Skidmore, Mark

AU - Han, Sukkyun

AU - Miller, Mary

AU - Rusch, Antje

AU - Foo, Wilson

N1 - Funding Information: This material is based upon work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through the NASA Astrobiology Institute under Cooperative Agreement no. NNA04CC08A issued through the Office of Space Science and by the Icelandic Centre for Research. The Icelandic National Energy Authority, National Power Company and Public Roads Administration provided logistical support. Members of the Icelandic Glaciological Society assisted in the field campaign on Vatnajökull. The NAI lead team at the Marine Biological Laboratory performed pyrosequencing, and Mitch Sogin, Hilary Morrison and Sue Huse assisted with procedures and analysis. Ruth Richardson provided an enrichment culture for FISH. Brian Popp and Terri Rust measured POM.

PY - 2009/4

Y1 - 2009/4

N2 - In 2006, we sampled the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic lake beneath the Vatnajökull ice cap (Iceland). The sample contained 5 × 10 5 cells per ml, and whole-cell fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and PCR with domain-specific probes showed these to be essentially all bacteria, with no detectable archaea. Pyrosequencing of the V6 hypervariable region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, Sanger sequencing of a clone library and FISH-based enumeration of four major phylotypes revealed that the assemblage was dominated by a few groups of putative chemotrophic bacteria whose closest cultivated relatives use sulfide, sulfur or hydrogen as electron donors, and oxygen, sulfate or CO"2 as electron acceptors. Hundreds of other phylotypes are present at lower abundance in our V6 tag libraries and a rarefaction analysis indicates that sampling did not reach saturation, but FISH data limit the remaining biome to <10-20 of all cells. The composition of this oligarchy can be understood in the context of the chemical disequilibrium created by the mixing of sulfidic lake water and oxygenated glacial meltwater.

AB - In 2006, we sampled the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic lake beneath the Vatnajökull ice cap (Iceland). The sample contained 5 × 10 5 cells per ml, and whole-cell fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and PCR with domain-specific probes showed these to be essentially all bacteria, with no detectable archaea. Pyrosequencing of the V6 hypervariable region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, Sanger sequencing of a clone library and FISH-based enumeration of four major phylotypes revealed that the assemblage was dominated by a few groups of putative chemotrophic bacteria whose closest cultivated relatives use sulfide, sulfur or hydrogen as electron donors, and oxygen, sulfate or CO"2 as electron acceptors. Hundreds of other phylotypes are present at lower abundance in our V6 tag libraries and a rarefaction analysis indicates that sampling did not reach saturation, but FISH data limit the remaining biome to <10-20 of all cells. The composition of this oligarchy can be understood in the context of the chemical disequilibrium created by the mixing of sulfidic lake water and oxygenated glacial meltwater.

KW - Acetogenesis

KW - Anoxia

KW - Extreme environments

KW - Microbial diversity

KW - Psychrophily

KW - Sulfide oxidation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=63349098143&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/ismej.2008.124

DO - 10.1038/ismej.2008.124

M3 - Article

C2 - 19092861

AN - SCOPUS:63349098143

SN - 1751-7362

VL - 3

SP - 486

EP - 497

JO - ISME Journal

JF - ISME Journal

IS - 4

ER -

An oligarchic microbial assemblage in the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic subglacial lake

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Other keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this