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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2007, p. 4029-4039, Vol. 73, No. 12
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01396-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bacterial Diversity Associated with Blood Falls, a Subglacial Outflow from the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica

Jill A. Mikucki^* and John C. Priscu

Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717

Received 16 June 2006/ Accepted 13 April 2007

Blood Falls is the surface manifestation of brine released from below the Taylor Glacier, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Geochemical analyses of Blood Falls show that this brine is of a marine origin. The discovery that 74% of clones and isolates from Blood Falls share high 16S rRNA gene sequence homology with phylotypes from marine systems supports this contention. The bacterial 16S rRNA gene clone library was dominated by a phylotype that had 99% sequence identity with Thiomicrospira arctica (46% of the library), a psychrophilic marine autotrophic sulfur oxidizer. The remainder of the library contained phylotypes related to the classes Betaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria and the division Bacteroidetes and included clones whose closest cultured relatives metabolize iron and sulfur compounds. These findings are consistent with the high iron and sulfate concentrations detected in Blood Falls, which are likely due to the interactions of the subglacial brine with the underlying iron-rich bedrock. Our results, together with previous reports, suggest that the brine below the Taylor Glacier hosts a viable ecosystem with microorganisms capable of growth, supported by chemical energy present in reduced iron and sulfur compounds. The metabolic and phylogenetic structure of this subglacial microbial assemblage appears to be controlled by glacier hydrology, bedrock lithology, and the preglacial ecosystem.

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* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone: (617) 496-4297. Fax: (617) 496-4387. E-mail: jmikucki{at}fas.harvard.edu

Published ahead of print on 27 April 2007.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2007, p. 4029-4039, Vol. 73, No. 12
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01396-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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