|
| Title: |
Diffusion-controlled metabolism for long-term survival of single isolated microorganisms trapped within ice crystals |
| Author: |
Rohde, R.A. and Price, P.B. |
| URL: |
http://www.pnas.org/content/104/42/16592.abstract
|
| Start Page: |
16592 |
| End Page: |
16597 |
| Periodical: |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
| Volume: |
104 |
| Issue: |
42 |
| ISSN/ISBN: |
10.1073/pnas.0708183104 |
| Abstract: |
Two known habitats for microbial metabolism in ice are surfaces of
mineral grains and liquid veins along three-grain boundaries. We
propose a third, more general, habitat in which a microbe frozen
in ice can metabolize by redox reactions with dissolved small
molecules such as CO2, O2, N2, CO, and CH4 diffusing through the
ice lattice. We show that there is an adequate supply of diffusing
molecules throughout deep glacial ice to sustain metabolism for
>105 yr. Using scanning fluorimetry to map proteins (a proxy for
cells) and F420 (a proxy for methanogens) in ice cores, we find
isolated spikes of fluorescence with intensity consistent with as
few as one microbial cell in a volume of 0.16 l with the protein
mapper and in 1.9 l with the methanogen mapper. With such
precise localization, it should be possible to extract single cells for
molecular identification. |
| Year: |
2007 |
|
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This site is administered by the WAIS Divide Ice Core Project Science Coordination Office (Desert Research Institute and University of New Hampshire). This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under award OPP-0440817 to the Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.