The Ecological Role of Micro-organisms in the Antarctic Environment (Springer Polar Sciences)

This book provides up-to-date multidisciplinary information regarding microbial physiological groups in terms of their role in the Antarctic ecology. How do microorganisms shape the Antarctic environment? The book presents a thorough overview of the most important physiological microbial groups or microbial systems that shape the Antarctic environment. Each microbial model is described in terms of their physiology and metabolism, and their role in the Antarctic environmental sustainability. The individual chapters prepare readers for understanding the relevance of the microbial models from both an historical perspective, and considering the latest developments. This book will appeal to researchers and teachers interested in the Antarctic science, but also to students who want to understand the role of microbes in the ecology of extreme environments. Preface 6 About the Book 8 Contents 9 Contributors 11 About the Editor 15 Part I: The Role of Microorganisms in the Biogeochemical Cycles in Antarctica 16 Chapter 1: Role of Cyanobacteria in the Ecology of Polar Environments 17 1.1 Introduction 17 1.2 Physiological Adaptations for Nutrient Cycling in Polar Environments 19 1.2.1 Nitrogen Cycling 20 1.2.2 Carbon Cycling 23 1.2.3 Primary Production 25 1.3 Cyanobacterial Interactions in Cryptic Niches 26 1.3.1 Hypoliths 26 1.3.2 Endoliths 27 1.3.3 Microbial Mat Communities 29 1.4 Conclusions and Perspectives 30 References 32 Chapter 2: Patterns of Microorganisms Inhabiting Antarctic Freshwater Lakes with Special Reference to Aquatic Moss Pillars 38 2.1 Introduction 39 2.2 General Characteristics of Antarctic Lakes 40 2.3 Freshwater Ecosystems 41 2.4 Biota of Aquatic Moss Pillars 42 2.4.1 Moss Pillars 42 2.4.2 Cyanobacteria 43 2.4.3 Proteobacteria and Others 46 2.4.4 Uncultivated Novel Bacterial Lineages 47 2.4.5 Eukaryotes 48 2.5 Conclusions and Future Perspectives 50 References 51 Chapter 3: Yeast Activities Involved in Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles in Antarctica 57 3.1 Yeasts in Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Habitats 58 3.2 The Role of Yeasts in the Carbon Cycle 60 3.2.1 Production of Enzymes Involved in Biopolymer Degradation 63 3.2.2 Degradation of Organic Pollutants 65 3.2.3 Fate of Assimilated Organic Compounds 66 3.3 Role of Yeasts in the Nitrogen Cycle 66 3.4 Role of Yeasts in Phosphorous Cycle 69 3.5 Concluding Remarks 71 References 71 Chapter 4: Living with Pigments: The Colour Palette of Antarctic Life 77 4.1 Introduction 78 4.2 Living with Carotenoids 79 4.3 Living with Phycobiliproteins 81 4.4 Living with Scytonemin 82 4.5 Living with Melanin 84 4.6 Living with Flavonoids 85 4.7 Living with Indigoidine 85 4.8 Living with Violacein 86 4.9 Microbial Mats: A Pool of Pigments 87 4.10 The Biotechnological Use of Pigments 87 4.11 Concluding Remarks 88 References 89 Part II: Invasive Colonization and Human Perturbations in Antarctic Microbial Ecosystems 95 Chapter 5: Horizontal Gene Transfer Elements: Plasmids in Antarctic Microorganisms 96 5.1 Definition of Biogeographic Regions 97 5.2 Characteristic of Antarctic Soil in ACBRs 97 5.3 Effect of Global Climate Change 97 5.4 Animal and Human Influence on Maritime Antarctica 99 5.5 Strategies for the Study of Microbial Communities 99 5.6 Psychrophilic and Psychrotolerant Bacteria 101 5.7 Horizontal Gene Transfer in Bacteria 101 5.8 Plasmids 103 5.9 Plasmids in Antarctic Environments 104 5.10 Culture-Dependent Techniques for Detection of Antarctic Plasmids 104 5.11 Culture-Independent Techniques 113 5.12 Alternative Mechanism for HGT 114 5.13 Conclusions 115 References 115 Chapter 6: Diversity and Ecological Roles of Prokaryotes in the Changing Antarctic Marine Environment 119 6.1 Introduction 119 6.2 Prokaryotic Communities and Climate Changes 120 6.2.1 Antarctic Seawater 121 6.2.2 Antarctic Sea-Ice 128 6.2.3 Antarctic Sediment 130 6.3 Prokaryotes in the Changing Polar Carbon Cycle: An Overview 133 6.3.1 C-Cycle in Sea-Ice 133 6.3.2 C-Cycle in Seawater 134 6.3.3 C-Cycle in Sediment 135 6.4 Concluding Remarks 136 References 137 Chapter 7: Antarctic Soil Microbial Communities in a Changing Environment: Their Contributions to the Sustainability of Antarctic Ecosystems and the Bioremediation of Anthropogenic Pollution 142 7.1 Introduction 143 7.2 Antarctic Soil Microbial Communities 145 7.2.1 Contributions to Ecosystems, Biotechnological Applications, and Bioprospecting 145 7.2.2 Links to the Sustainability of Antarctic Ecosystems: A Dual Role 146 7.2.3 Unraveling the Hidden Soil Microbial Communities 146 7.3 Antarctica, a Changing Environment 149 7.3.1 Anthropogenic and Environmental Drivers of Change: Interacting Forces 149 7.3.2 Main Sources of Anthropogenic Disturbance to Terrestrial Environments 151 7.3.2.1 Chemical Contamination 152 7.4 Remediation of Polluted Antarctic Terrestrial Environments 152 7.4.1 Microbial Communities and Their Catabolic Potential Are Key 152 7.4.2 Pollution Shaping Microbial Communities 153 7.4.3 Optimizing Cold Bioremediation 156 7.4.4 A Focus on Functional Genes and Rhizosphere Communities 157 7.4.5 Gene Flow in the Cold: Mobile Genetic Elements and Bioremediation 159 7.5 Concluding Remarks and Outlook 160 References 161 Chapter 8: Airborne Microorganisms in Antarctica: Transport, Survival and Establishment 171 8.1 Introduction 172 8.2 The Aerosphere and Bioaerosol Particles 174 8.2.1 Particle Movement in the Atmosphere 174 8.2.2 Bioaerosol Particles: Temporal and Spatial Variation 179 8.3 The Antarctic Aerosphere 182 8.3.1 Importance of Aerial Transport of Microorganisms to and Within Antarctica 184 8.3.2 Antarctic Bioaerosol Sampling: Challenges and Solutions 186 8.3.3 Bioaerosol Research in Antarctica 187 8.4 Microbial Survival Mechanisms in the Global Atmosphere and Antarctica 190 8.5 Impact of Aerial Dispersal on Antarctic Microbial Populations 193 8.5.1 The Propagule Bank 194 8.5.2 Future Changes to Antarctica 195 8.6 Study of Antarctic Bioaerosols: Filling the Gaps 197 References 197 Chapter 9: Molecular Biology of RNA Viruses Isolated in Antarctica 205 9.1 Introduction to RNA Virus Evolution 206 9.2 RNA Viruses as Major Contributors to Antarctic Sea 207 9.3 RNA Viruses in Antarctic Freshwater Environments 207 9.4 RNA Viruses Associated with Antarctic wildlife 209 9.5 Paramyxoviruses Infecting Antarctic Wildlife 211 9.6 Orthomyxoviruses Infecting Antarctic Wildlife 216 9.7 Birnaviruses Infecting Antarctic Wildlife 218 9.8 Flaviviruses Infecting Antarctic Wildlife 218 9.9 Togaviruses Infecting Antarctic Wildlife 219 9.10 RNA Plant Viruses in Antarctica 219 9.11 Remarks and Future Directions of RNA Virus Research in Antarctica 220 References 220 Part III: The Ecological Roles of Microorganisms Inhabiting Specific Antarctic Niches 226 Chapter 10: The Hidden Life of Antarctic Rocks 227 10.1 Introduction 227 10.2 Antarctic Lithobionts 229 10.3 Continental vs Maritime Antarctic Rock Environment 230 10.4 Rocks: An Oligotrophic Substrate for Life 234 10.5 Who Are They? 235 10.6 Carbon Input into the Community 236 10.7 Nitrogen Input into the Community 238 10.8 How to Cope with Stress? 239 10.9 Final Remarks 240 References 241 Chapter 11: Marine Fungi Associated with Antarctic Macroalgae 244 11.1 Introduction 245 11.2 Marine Antarctic Fungi 246 11.3 Algicolous Antarctic Fungi 248 11.4 Biotechnological Potential of Antarctic Algicolous Fungi 255 11.5 Conclusion and Perspectives 257 References 258 Chapter 12: Microbial Role in the Ecology of Antarctic Plants 261 12.1 Introduction 262 12.2 Antarctic Vascular Plants 263 12.3 Microorganisms Associated with Antarctic Plants 265 12.4 The Ecological Role of Microbe in Plant Growth and Health 267 12.5 The Ecological Consequences of the Microbe-Plant Interaction in Antarctica 271 12.6 Concluding Remarks 274 References 274 Chapter 13: Microbial Symbionts of Antarctic Marine Benthic Invertebrates 280 13.1 Introduction 280 13.2 Prokaryotes Associated with Antarctic Benthic Invertebrates 284 13.2.1 Antarctic Sponges (Phylum Porifera) 284 13.2.2 The Soft-Coral Alcyonium Antarcticum (Phylum Cnidaria) 289 13.2.3 The Sea Urchin Sterechinus neumayeri (Phylum Echinodermata) 291 13.2.4 The Marine Worm Grania sp. (Phylum Annelida) 291 13.3 Eukaryotes Associated with Antarctic Benthic Invertebrates 292 13.3.1 Diatoms 292 13.3.2 Yeasts 294 13.4 Concluding Remarks 296 References 297 Index 300 Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Role of Cyanobacteria in the Ecology of Polar Environments (Marc W. Van Goethem, Don A. Cowan)....Pages 3-23 Patterns of Microorganisms Inhabiting Antarctic Freshwater Lakes with Special Reference to Aquatic Moss Pillars (Ryosuke Nakai, Satoshi Imura, Takeshi Naganuma)....Pages 25-43 Yeast Activities Involved in Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles in Antarctica (Silvana Vero, Gabriela Garmendia, Adalgisa Martínez-Silveira, Ivana Cavello, Michael Wisniewski)....Pages 45-64 Living with Pigments: The Colour Palette of Antarctic Life (Juan José Marizcurrena, María Fernanda Cerdá, Diego Alem, Susana Castro-Sowinski)....Pages 65-82 Front Matter ....Pages 83-83 Horizontal Gene Transfer Elements: Plasmids in Antarctic Microorganisms (Matías Giménez, Gastón Azziz, Paul R. Gill, Silvia Batista)....Pages 85-107 Diversity and Ecological Roles of Prokaryotes in the Changing Antarctic Marine Environment (Angelina Lo Giudice, Maurizio Azzaro)....Pages 109-131 Antarctic Soil Microbial Communities in a Changing Environment: Their Contributions to the Sustainability of Antarctic Ecosystems and the Bioremediation of Anthropogenic Pollution (Cecilia G. Flocco, Walter P. Mac Cormack, Kornelia Smalla)....Pages 133-161 Airborne Microorganisms in Antarctica: Transport, Survival and Establishment (Katie King-Miaow, Kevin Lee, Teruya Maki, Donnabella LaCap-Bugler, Stephen David James Archer)....Pages 163-196 Molecular Biology of RNA Viruses Isolated in Antarctica (Juan Cristina)....Pages 197-217 Front Matter ....Pages 219-219 The Hidden Life of Antarctic Rocks (Vanesa Amarelle, Valentina Carrasco, Elena Fabiano)....Pages 221-237 Marine Fungi Associated with Antarctic Macroalgae (Mayara B. Ogaki, Maria T. de Paula, Daniele Ruas, Franciane M. Pellizzari, César X. García-Laviña, Luiz H. Rosa)....Pages 239-255 Microbial Role in the Ecology of Antarctic Plants (Júnia Schultz, Alexandre Soares Rosado)....Pages 257-275 Microbial Symbionts of Antarctic Marine Benthic Invertebrates (Angelina Lo Giudice, Maurizio Azzaro, Stefano Schiaparelli)....Pages 277-296 Back Matter ....Pages 297-298