@article {4814, title = {Antarctic lake phytoplankton and bacteria from near-surface waters exhibit high sensitivity to climate-driven disturbance}, journal = {Environmental Microbiology}, year = {2022}, month = {07/2022}, abstract = {

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs), Antarctica, represent a cold, desert ecosystem poised on the threshold of melting and freezing water. The MDVs have experienced dramatic signs of climatic change, most notably a warm austral summer in 2001\–2002 that caused widespread flooding, partial ice cover loss and lake level rise. To understand the impact of these climatic disturbances on lake microbial communities, we simulated lake level rise and ice-cover loss by transplanting dialysis-bagged communities from selected depths to other locations in the water column or to an open water perimeter moat. Bacteria and eukaryote communities residing in the surface waters (5 m) exhibited shifts in community composition when exposed to either disturbance, while microbial communities from below the surface were largely unaffected by the transplant. We also observed an accumulation of labile dissolved organic carbon in the transplanted surface communities. In addition, there were taxa-specific sensitivities: cryptophytes and Actinobacteria were highly sensitive particularly to the moat transplant, while chlorophytes and several bacterial taxa increased in relative abundance or were unaffected. Our results reveal that future climate-driven disturbances will likely undermine the stability and productivity of MDV lake phytoplankton and bacterial communities in the surface waters of this extreme environment.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1111/1462-2920.16113}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.16113}, author = {Sherwell, Shasten S. and Kalra, Isha and Li, Wei and Diane M. McKnight and John C. Priscu and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss} } @article {4154, title = {The Antarctic psychrophiles Chlamydomonas spp. UWO241 and ICE-MDV exhibit differential restructuring of photosystem I in response to iron}, journal = {Photosynthesis Research}, volume = {9}, year = {2019}, month = {02/2019}, abstract = {

Chlamydomonas sp. UWO241 is a psychrophilic alga isolated from the deep photic zone of a perennially ice-covered Antarctic lake (east lobe Lake Bonney, ELB). Past studies have shown that C. sp. UWO241 exhibits constitutive downregulation of photosystem I (PSI) and high rates of PSI-associated cyclic electron flow (CEF). Iron levels in ELB are in the nanomolar range leading us to hypothesize that the unusual PSI phenotype of C. sp. UWO241 could be a response to chronic Fe-deficiency. We studied the impact of Fe availability in C. sp. UWO241, a mesophile, C. reinhardtii SAG11-32c, as well as a psychrophile isolated from the shallow photic zone of ELB, Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-MDV. Under Fe-deficiency, PsaA abundance and levels of photooxidizable P700 (ΔA820/A820) were reduced in both psychrophiles relative to the mesophile. Upon increasing Fe, C. sp. ICE-MDV and C. reinhardtii exhibited restoration of PSI function, while C. sp. UWO241 exhibited only moderate changes in PSI activity and lacked almost all LHCI proteins. Relative to Fe-excess conditions (200 μM Fe2+), C. sp. UWO241 grown in 18 μM Fe2+ exhibited downregulation of light harvesting and photosystem core proteins, as well as upregulation of a bestrophin-like anion channel protein and two CEF-associated proteins (NdsS, PGL1). Key enzymes of starch synthesis and shikimate biosynthesis were also upregulated. We conclude that in response to variable Fe availability, the psychrophile C. sp. UWO241 exhibits physiological plasticity which includes restructuring of the photo-chemical apparatus, increased PSI-associated CEF, and shifts in downstream carbon metabolism toward storage carbon and secondary stress metabolites.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, Cyclic electron flow, Iron, Photosystem I, Psychrophile}, issn = {0166-8595}, doi = {10.1007/s11120-019-00621-0}, url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11120-019-00621-0}, author = {Cook, Greg and Teufel, Amber and Kalra, Isha and Li, Wei and Wang, Xin and John C. Priscu and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss} }