TY  - JOUR
U1  - Zeitschriftenartikel, wissenschaftlich - begutachtet (reviewed)
A1  - Napoli, Alessandro
A1  - Coleine, Claudia
A1  - Ulrich, Nikea J.
A1  - Moeller, Ralf
A1  - Billi, Daniela
A1  - Selbmann, Laura
T1  - Snow Surface Microbial Diversity at the Detection Limit within the Vicinity of the Concordia Station, Antarctica
JF  - Life
N2  - The Concordia Research Station provides a unique location for preparatory activities for future human journey to Mars, to explore microbial diversity at subzero temperatures, and monitor the dissemination of human-associated microorganisms within the pristine surrounding environment. Amplicon sequencing was leveraged to investigate the microbial diversity of surface snow samples collected monthly over a two-year period, at three distances from the Station (10, 500, and 1000 m). Even when the extracted total DNA was below the detection limit, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was successfully performed on all samples, while 18S rRNA was amplified on 19 samples out of 51. No significant relationships were observed between microbial diversity and seasonality (summer or winter) or distance from the Concordia base. This suggested that if present, the anthropogenic impact should have been below the detectable limit. While harboring low microbial diversity, the surface snow samples were characterized by heterogeneous microbiomes. Ultimately, our study corroborated the use of DNA sequencing-based techniques for revealing microbial presence in remote and hostile environments, with implications for Planetary Protection during space missions and for life-detection in astrobiology relevant targets.
KW  - extraterrestrial analogue
KW  - extremophiles
KW  - life detection
KW  - fungal and bacterial amplicon sequencing
KW  - planetary protection
KW  - Antarctic ice sheet
KW  - habitability
Y1  - 2023
UN  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:1044-opus-65655
SN  - 2075-1729
SS  - 2075-1729
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/life13010113
DO  - https://doi.org/10.3390/life13010113
PM  - 36676062
VL  - 13
IS  - 1
SP  - 14
S1  - 14
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -