[MINIREVIEW]Glaciers as microbial habitats: current knowledge and implication

Soyeon Kim; Hanbyul Lee; Soon-Do Hur; Woo Jun Sul; Ok-Sun Kim

doi:10.1007/s12275-022-2275-9

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[MINIREVIEW]Glaciers as microbial habitats: current knowledge and implication: Soyeon Kim ^1,2, Hanbyul Lee ¹, Soon-Do Hur ³, Woo Jun Sul ², Ok-Sun Kim ¹; Journal of Microbiology 2022;60(8):767-779.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-022-2275-9
Published online: July 29, 2022

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

Corresponding author: Ok-Sun Kim ,

Received: 15 June 2022 • Revised: 4 July 2022 • Accepted: 4 July 2022

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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.

Keywords: psychrophiles, microbial diversity, decontamination, biological proxy, adaptation, astrobiology

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[MINIREVIEW]Glaciers as microbial habitats: current knowledge and implication

J. Microbiol. 2022;60(8):767-779. Published online July 29, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-022-2275-9

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