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Russian scientists have performed a study on bacterial communities found within Antarctic surface snow

Scientists from Skoltech, The Institute of Molecular Genetics (Russian Academy of Sciences), The Institute of Gene Biology (Russian Academy of Sciences) and Saint Petersburg State University, headed by Skoltech Professor, Kostantin Severinov, have recently studied bacteria within the Antarctic snow. They tried to find an answer to the longstanding question: “Are there any specific Antarctic bacterial communities with special adaptations to extremely cold conditions, or did all bacteria just enter this large snowy continent from different parts of the world by means of air masses?”

Photo from Anna Lopatina personal archive

Samples of snow and melt water collected during two Russian Antarctic expeditions were concentrated in the lab organized on the research ship “Akademik Fedorov”. The bacteria isolated from these samples were then analyzed in Moscow using modern genomic and bioinformatics methods. In particular, researchers have studied components of the CRISPR-Cas bacterial adaptive immune systems that protect bacteria from viruses called bacteriophages. During the infection a piece of viral DNA can be integrated into the bacterial genome and make bacteria and its progeny resistant to this particular virus. The genomes of modern bacteria contain various DNA fragments which were captured from phages by ancestral cells.

“Our data showed that it’s more likely that bacteria were deposited on the snow surface from the air. Firstly, bacterial content varies from year to year in the same place. Secondly, we didn’t find any bacteria specific for that place. Imagine that every year you visit some natural parks in Africa. You expect to see lions there, not tigers. If you were to see a tiger, it’s likely that someone just brought it there, and you will not see it next year because tigers don’t live in Africa. Well, Antarctic snow bacteria are like tigers, not lions. Moreover, bacterial communities we observe at different times differ a lot. Bacteria must be traveling by air because they are very tiny and light. Analysis of their CRISPR-Cas systems showed that these bacteria came from the Southern Hemisphere. Their “medical histories”, recorded in the form of acquired viral DNA fragments are very different from those of related bacteria of the North Hemisphere.

The number and variety of Antarctic bacteria is enormous. There are tens of thousands of bacteria in one cubic centimeter of Antarctic snow. Thus, Antarctica should be considered as a huge bacterial storage area, and many of the stored bacteria are still viable. New bacteria are coming all the time, while old ones are sinking deep into the snow. It gives scientists an opportunity to study bacteria from the distant past in the lower snow layers. When icebergs break off Antarctica and drift to the North, they should be regarded not just as a large ice blocks, but should be considered as “ships” with a large number of bacterial passengers, some of which may be pathogenic to people,“ – told Konstantin Severinov,

This work is a part of a long-term study of Antarctic bacterial community composition. This year scientists will perform the expedition again, visiting the Antarctic station “Vostok”. There is a huge freshwater lake about 4 kilometers under this station, which may contain special forms of bacterial life.

Results of the work were published in a journal Frontiers in Microbiology,

* The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) is a private graduate research university in Skolkovo, Russia, a suburb of Moscow. Established in 2011 in collaboration with MIT, Skoltech educates global leaders in innovation, advances scientific knowledge, and fosters new technologies to address critical issues facing Russia and the world. Applying international research and educational models, the university integrates the best Russian scientific traditions with twenty-first century entrepreneurship and innovation.

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