DNA metabarcoding of non-fungal eukaryotic diversity in air and snow of Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Paulo E.A.S.  Câmara; Tina Šantl‑Temkiv; Otavio H.P. Pinto; Peter Convey; Manuel Dall’Osto; Fabio L.V. Bones; Micheline Carvalho-Silva; Diego Knop Henriques; Luiz Henrique Rosa

doi:10.33265/polar.v44.8293

Paulo E.A.S. Câmara Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil; and Pós Graduação em Fungos, Algas e Plantas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil
Tina Šantl‑Temkiv Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus, Denmark; and Department of Environmental Science, iCLIMATE Aarhus University Interdisciplinary Centre for Climate Change, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
Otavio H.P. Pinto Departamento de Biologia Celular, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
Peter Convey British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Cambridge, UK; Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa; and Biodiversity of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Ecosystems, Santiago, Chile
Manuel Dall’Osto Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona, Spain
Fabio L.V. Bones Pós Graduação em Fungos, Algas e Plantas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil
Micheline Carvalho-Silva Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
Diego Knop Henriques Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
Luiz Henrique Rosa Departamento de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v44.8293

Keywords: High throughput sequencing, dispersal, Algae, Plants, Protozoa, Animalia

Abstract

A major natural route of dispersal to Antarctica is often assumed to be atmospheric transport, although few studies have documented this in detail. Aerial dispersal to Antarctica is very challenging as the continent is geographically remote from other land areas and is isolated by the atmospheric circumpolar vortex. Detailed information about aerial routes by which microorganisms arrive and circulate in Antarctica is generally lacking, as few aerobiological studies have focused on eukaryotes and those that have predominantly relied on traditional morphological identification. Recent advances in molecular biology, such as DNA metabarcoding by high throughput sequencing (HTS), have provided a powerful new tool for the study of atmospheric biological diversity and can retrieve levels of diversity an order of magnitude higher than traditional methods. In this study, we used HTS to investigate the diversity of non-fungal eukaryotes present in the atmosphere and freshly precipitated snow on Livingston Island. In a total of 740 m³ of air and 3.76 L of snow sampled, representatives of four kingdoms (Protozoa, Chromista, Viridiplantae and Animalia) and five phyla (Ciliophora, Ochrophyta, Chlorophyta, Magnoliophyta and Porifera) were found. The most diverse phylum was Chlorophyta, represented in our samples by 10 taxa, with Trebouxia asymmetrica Friedl & Gärtner the most abundant representative.

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