Changes in the Active, Dead, and Dormant Microbial Community Structure across a Pleistocene Permafrost Chronosequence.

ABSTRACT: Permafrost hosts a community of microorganisms that survive and reproduce for millennia despite extreme environmental conditions, such as water stress, subzero temperatures, high salinity, and low nutrient availability. Many studies focused on permafrost microbial community composition use DNA-based methods, such as metagenomics and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. However, these methods do not distinguish among active, dead, and dormant cells. This is of particular concern in ancient permafrost, where constant subzero temperatures preserve DNA from dead organisms and dormancy may be a common survival strategy. To circumvent this, we applied (i) LIVE/DEAD differential staining coupled with microscopy, (ii) endospore enrichment, and (iii) selective depletion of DNA from dead cells to permafrost mi

SUBMITTER: Burkert A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6585489 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature