Snow Surface Microbial Diversity at the Detection Limit within the Vicinity of the Concordia Station, Antarctica
Author(s)
Date Issued
2022
Type
article
Volume
13
Issue
1
Journal
Abstract
The Concordia Research Station provides a unique location for preparatory activities for
future human journey to Mars, to explore microbial diversity at subzero temperatures, and monitor
the dissemination of human-associated microorganisms within the pristine surrounding environment.
Amplicon sequencing was leveraged to investigate the microbial diversity of surface snow samples
collected monthly over a two-year period, at three distances from the Station (10, 500, and 1000 m).
Even when the extracted total DNA was below the detection limit, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was
successfully performed on all samples, while 18S rRNA was amplified on 19 samples out of 51. No
significant relationships were observed between microbial diversity and seasonality (summer or
winter) or distance from the Concordia base. This suggested that if present, the anthropogenic impact
should have been below the detectable limit. While harboring low microbial diversity, the surface
snow samples were characterized by heterogeneous microbiomes. Ultimately, our study corroborated
the use of DNA sequencing-based techniques for revealing microbial presence in remote and hostile
environments, with implications for Planetary Protection during space missions and for life-detection
in astrobiology relevant targets.
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
Napoli et al., 2023 Life life-13-00113.pdf
Size
2.89 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
222e837aa953475d0700de0b7dd98ddd