Discovering unique microbes in Antarctica that adapt to the polar environment

Unlike animals and plants, microbes can spread over long distances via air and ocean currents, but researchers believe that Antarctica, being the most isolated and extreme continent on Earth, may be the ideal place to search for endemic microbes that are not found anywhere else.

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Solve the mystery of the "Blood Waterfall" in Antarctica

The team, led by researcher Nick Dragon, chose to focus on strains of Arthrobacter bacteria because they are common in the soil of Antarctica and other regions such as Colorado and the tropics, and they can be easily grown in the laboratory.

The team conducted their research in two stages: First, they sequenced the genomes of Arthrobacter strains found in Antarctic soil samples, then compared them to strains from around the world using public databases, and found that 90% of the Antarctic strains are unique and found nowhere else. Second, they grew these strains in the laboratory and simulated the extreme conditions of Antarctica (extreme cold and drought), and found that the Antarctic strains grow slowly but are extremely hardy, proving that they are uniquely adapted to the polar environment.

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A "time bomb" in Antarctica... Melting ice releases a toxic metal at unprecedented rates

"We tend to think of biodiversity in terms of penguins, seals and whales, but this shows that some of Antarctica's most distinctive species are microbial," said Byron Adams, a biology professor at Brigham Young University and a co-author of the study. "Protecting Antarctica's biodiversity also means protecting the biological history found in a handful of soil."

Noah Ferrer, director of the Center for Microbial Exploration and a co-author of the study, added: “We already knew that a wide range of microbes can survive the harsh conditions of Antarctica, but we now know that some of these microbes are unique to Antarctica and uniquely adapted to life on the Antarctic continent.”

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Numbers don't lie.. A Russian scientist talks about the consequences of melting "Doomsday ice"

These results opened the door to future research on microbial life in Antarctica, and confirmed that the continent's biological diversity is not limited to the large animals that we see on the surface.

These results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.