Environmental microarray analyses of Antarctic soil microbial communities

摘要: Antarctic ecosystems are fascinating in their limited trophic complexity, with decomposition and nutrient cycling functions being dominated by microbial activities. Not only habitats exposed to extreme environmental conditions, the Peninsula is also experiencing unequalled effects of global warming. Owing uniqueness potential impact warming on these pristine systems, there considerable interest determining structure function communities Antarctic. We therefore utilized a recently designed 16S rRNA gene microarray, PhyloChip, which targets 8741 bacterial archaeal taxa, interrogate inhabiting densely vegetated bare fell-field soils along latitudinal gradient ranging from 51 degrees S (Falkland Islands) 72 (Coal Nunatak). Results indicated clear decrease diversity increasing latitude, two southernmost sites harboring most distinct Bacterial Archaeal communities. The microarray approach proved more sensitive detecting breadth than polymerase chain reaction-based libraries modest size ( approximately 190 clones per library). Furthermore, relative signal intensities summed for phyla families PhyloChip were significantly correlated occurrence taxa clone libraries. data compared functional obtained earlier, highlighting numerous significant relationships providing evidence strong link between community composition distribution soils. Integration other complementary methods provides an unprecedented understanding terrestrial habitats.