Bacterial and archaeal community structures in perennial cave ice.

ABSTRACT: Ice entrenched microcosm represents a vast reservoir of novel species and a proxy for past climate reconstitution. Among glacial ecosystems, ice caves represent one of the scarcely investigated frozen habitats. To characterize the microbial diversity of perennial ice from karst ecosystems, Roche 454 sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons from the underground ice block of Scarisoara Ice Cave (Romania) was applied. The temporal distribution of bacterial and archaeal community structures from newly formed, 400, and 900 years old ice layers was surveyed and analyzed in relation with the age and geochemical composition of the ice substrate. The microbial content of cave ice layers varied from 3.3 10⁴ up to 7.5 10⁵ cells mL^-1, with 59-78% viability. Pyrosequencing

SUBMITTER: Itcus C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6199274 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature