02343nas a2200217 4500008004100000245011300041210006900154260001200223490000700235520161700242653001501859653001301874653001401887653001701901653001001918100002401928700002901952700001601981700003301997856009502030 2024 eng d00aAntarctic lake viromes reveal potential virus associated influences on nutrient cycling in ice-covered lakes0 aAntarctic lake viromes reveal potential virus associated influen c09/20240 v153 a

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica are a mosaic of extreme habitats which are dominated by microbial life. The MDVs include glacial melt holes, streams, lakes, and soils, which are interconnected through the transfer of energy and flux of inorganic and organic material via wind and hydrology. For the first time, we provide new data on the viral community structure and function in the MDVs through metagenomics of the planktonic and benthic mat communities of Lakes Bonney and Fryxell. Viral taxonomic diversity was compared across lakes and ecological function was investigated by characterizing auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) and predicting viral hosts. Our data suggest that viral communities differed between the lakes and among sites: these differences were connected to microbial host communities. AMGs were associated with the potential augmentation of multiple biogeochemical processes in host, most notably with phosphorus acquisition, organic nitrogen acquisition, sulfur oxidation, and photosynthesis. Viral genome abundances containing AMGs differed between the lakes and microbial mats, indicating site specialization. Using procrustes analysis, we also identified significant coupling between viral and bacterial communities (p = 0.001). Finally, host predictions indicate viral host preference among the assembled viromes. Collectively, our data show that: (i) viruses are uniquely distributed through the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes, (ii) their AMGs can contribute to overcoming host nutrient limitation and, (iii) viral and bacterial MDV communities are tightly coupled.

10aAntarctica10abacteria10alimnology10ametagenomics10avirus1 aRobinson, David, M.1 aMorgan-Kiss, Rachael, M.1 aWang, Zhong1 aTakacs-Vesbach, Cristina, D. uhttps://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1422941/full02559nas a2200301 4500008004100000245008000041210006900121260001200190300001200202490000700214520166000221653001501881653001601896653002901912653001801941653001201959100002901971700001802000700002202018700002002040700002202060700001202082700001602094700002602110700002102136700003302157856006702190 2024 eng d00aSentinel protist taxa of the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes, Antarctica: A review0 aSentinel protist taxa of the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes Antarctica c03/2024 a13234720 v123 a

High-latitude meromictic lakes such as those in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) harbor aquatic ecosystems dominated by the microbial loop. Within this habitat, which is limited year-round by light and nutrients, protists, or single celled eukaryotes, play outsized roles in the food web as the dominant primary producers and the apex predators. Thus, the MDV lake ecosystem represents an ideal system to study the role of sentinel protist taxa in carbon and nutrient cycling. The perennially ice-covered lakes are part of the McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (McM LTER; mcmlter.org) established in 1993. In this review we will highlight the diversity and trophic roles of the MDV lake protist community and compare environmental factors driving spatiotemporal patterns in key protist taxa in two lakes within the McM LTER, Lakes Bonney and Fryxell. We will then discuss lessons learned from manipulated experiments on the impact of current and future climate-driven environmental change on sensitive protist taxa. Last, we will integrate knowledge gained from 25 years of lab-controlled experiments on key photosynthetic protists to extend our understanding of the function of these extremophiles within the MDV aquatic food webs. Our research group has studied the distribution and function of the MDV microbial community for nearly two decades, training the next generation of scientists to tackle future problems of these globally significant microbes. This review article will also highlight early career scientists who have contributed to this body of work and represent the future of scientific understanding in the Anthropocene.

10aAntarctica10aDisturbance10aMcMurdo Dry Valley lakes10aphytoplankton10aprotist1 aMorgan-Kiss, Rachael, M.1 aPopson, Devon1 aPereira, Rochelle1 aDolhi-Binder, J1 aTeufel, Amber, G.1 aLi, Wei1 aKalra, Isha1 aSherwell, Shasten, S.1 aReynebeau, Emily1 aTakacs-Vesbach, Cristina, D. uhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2024.132347202435nas a2200277 4500008004100000245011000041210006900151260001200220300000700232490000700239520155100246653001501797653002601812653002401838653001301862653003001875100001901905700002401924700002101948700002401969700002101993700002302014700002202037700003302059856006502092 2022 eng d00aLimits to the three domains of life: Lessons from community assembly along an Antarctic salinity gradient0 aLimits to the three domains of life Lessons from community assem c04/2022 a150 v263 a

Extremophiles exist among all three domains of life; however, physiological mechanisms for surviving harsh environmental conditions differ among Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Consequently, we expect that domain-specific variation of diversity and community assembly patterns exist along environmental gradients in extreme environments. We investigated inter-domain community compositional differences along a high-elevation salinity gradient in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Conductivity for 24 soil samples collected along the gradient ranged widely from 50 to 8355 µS cm-1. Taxonomic richness varied among domains, with a total of 359 bacterial, 2 archaeal, 56 fungal, and 69 non-fungal eukaryotic operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Richness for bacteria, archaea, fungi, and non-fungal eukaryotes declined with increasing conductivity (all P < 0.05). Principal coordinate ordination analysis (PCoA) revealed significant (ANOSIM R = 0.97) groupings of low/high salinity bacterial OTUs, while OTUs from other domains were not significantly clustered. Bacterial beta diversity was unimodally distributed along the gradient and had a nested structure driven by species losses, whereas in fungi and non-fungal eukaryotes beta diversity declined monotonically without strong evidence of nestedness. Thus, while increased salinity acts as a stressor in all domains, the mechanisms driving community assembly along the gradient differ substantially between the domains.

10aAntarctica10ainter-domain response10aMcMurdo Dry Valleys10asalinity10aspecies richness patterns1 aJiang, Xiaoben1 aVan Horn, David, J.1 aOkie, Jordan, G.1 aBuelow, Heather, N.1 aSchwartz, Egbert1 aColman, Daniel, R.1 aFeeser, Kelli, L.1 aTakacs-Vesbach, Cristina, D. uhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00792-022-01262-3