Metabolic potential and survival strategies of microbial communities
across extreme temperature gradients on Deception Island volcano,
Antarctica
Abstract
Active volcanoes in Antarctica, in contrast to the rest of the icy
landscape, have remarkable temperature and geochemical gradients that
could select for a wide variety of microbial adaptive mechanisms and
metabolic pathways. Deception Island is a stratovolcano flooded by the
sea, resulting in contrasting ecosystems such as permanent glaciers
(<0 oC) and active fumaroles (up to 100 oC). Steep gradients
in temperature, salinity and geochemistry over very short distances have
been reported for Deception Island, and have been shown to effect
microbial community structure and diversity. However, little is known
regarding how these gradients affect ecosystem functioning, for example
due to inhibition of key metabolic enzymes or pathways. In this study,
we used shotgun metagenomics and metagenome-assembled genomes to explore
how microbial functional diversity is shaped by extreme geochemical,
salinity and temperature gradients in fumarole and glacier sediments. We
observed that microbial communities from a 98 oC fumarole harbor
specific hyperthermophilic molecular strategies, as well as reductive
and autotrophic pathways, while those from <80 oC fumaroles
possess more diverse metabolic and survival strategies capable of
responding to fluctuating redox and temperature conditions. In contrast,
glacier communities showed less diverse metabolic potentials, comprising
mainly heterotrophic and carbon pathways. Through the reconstruction of
genomes, we were able to clarify putative novel lifestyles of
underrepresented taxonomic groups, especially those related to
Nanoarchaeota and thermophilic ammonia-oxidizing archaeal lineages. Our
results enhance understanding of the metabolic and survival capabilities
of different extremophilic lineages of Bacteria and Archaea.