Title |
[MINIREVIEW]Glaciers as microbial habitats: current knowledge and implication |
Author |
Soyeon Kim1,2, Hanbyul Lee1, Soon-Do Hur3, Woo Jun Sul2, and Ok-Sun Kim1* |
Address |
1Division of Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon 21990, Republic of Korea, 2Department of Systems Biotechnology, Chung-Ang University, Anseong 17546, Republic of Korea, 3Division of Glacial Environment, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon 21990, Republic of Korea |
Bibliography |
Journal of Microbiology, 60(8),767-779, 2022,
|
DOI |
10.1007/s12275-022-2275-9
|
Key Words |
psychrophiles, microbial diversity, decontamination,
biological proxy, adaptation, astrobiology |
Abstract |
Glaciers, formed from the gradual accumulation of snow,
can be continuous records representing past environments
and recognized as a time capsule of our planetary evolution.
Due to extremely harsh conditions, glacial ice has long been
considered an uninhabitable ecosystem for microorganisms
to sustain their life. However, recent developments in microbiological
analysis techniques revealed the presence of unexpectedly
diverse microbial strains. Glacial microorganisms
could also provide valuable information, including not only
biological diversity and structure but also molecular systematics,
metabolic profiles, and evolutionary changes from the
past climate and ecosystem. However, there are several obstacles
in investigating the glacier environment, such as low
regional accessibility, technical difficulties of ice coring, potential
contamination during the sampling process, and low
microbial biomass. This review aims to summarize recent
knowledge on decontamination methods, biomass, diversity
based on culture-dependent and -independent methods, application
of biological proxies, greenhouse gas production
and adaptive strategies in glaciers from various regions and to
imply further directions for a comprehensive understanding
of habitatility in an icy world including outer of our planet. |