IPY: Collaborative Research: A Metagenomic Investigation of Adaptation to Prolonged Cold and Dark Conditions of the Lake Vostok Microbial Community

该项目汇集了具有分子微生物生态学，南极和深海环境以及宏基因组学专业知识的研究人员，以解决首要问题：由微生物主导的生态系统如何适应进化和地质相关时间尺度上持续寒冷和黑暗的条件？沃斯托克湖在大约4公里厚的冰层下埋藏了至少1500万年，在长达150万年的时间里无法与外部环境进行任何交流，是研究这一问题的理想系统。来自湖泊的水已经冻结在冰盖底部（积冰），可用于研究。几项研究表明，在积冰中存在丰度低但可检测到的微生物群落。我们的中心假设认为，沃斯托克湖微生物特别适应极端寒冷，黑暗和寡养条件下的生活，这些适应的特征可以在基因，生物体和群落水平的基因组序列中观察到。为了解决这个假设，我们建议的宏基因组（即所有成员的基因组）的吸积冰的特征。使用全基因组扩增（WGA），其可以仅从几个细胞提供微克的无偏宏基因组DNA。该项目的成果与进化生物学和生态学、南极冰下湖泊勘探、生物技术和天体生物学有关。该项目直接涉及国家和国际两级国际极地年的优先事项和主题。将创建和维护DNA序列数据和宏基因组文库的遗产。新闻稿和公开网页将促进与公众的沟通。K-12外展将是一个新的，两级计划的重点，目标是七年级的教室和现场访问联合基因组研究所生产测序设施的高中三年级和四年级和社区大学水平的学生。将招募少数民族本科研究人员进行本项目的研究，并为两名研究生、一名博士后学者和一名技术人员提供支持和培训。

This project brings together researchers with expertise in molecular microbial ecology, Antarctic and deep sea environments, and metagenomics to address the overarching question: how do ecosystems dominated by microorganisms adapt to conditions of continuous cold and dark over evolutionarily and geologically relevant time scales? Lake Vostok, buried for at least 15 million years beneath approximately 4 km of ice that has prevented any communication with the external environment for as much as 1.5 million years, is an ideal system to study this question. Water from the lake that has frozen on to the bottom of the ice sheet (accretion ice) is available for study. Several studies have indicated the presence of low abundance, but detectable microbial communities in the accretion ice. Our central hypothesis maintains that Lake Vostok microbes are specifically adapted to life in conditions of extreme cold, dark, and oligotrophy and that signatures of those adaptations can be observed in their genome sequences at the gene, organism, and community levels. To address this hypothesis, we propose to characterize the metagenome (i.e. the genomes of all members of the community) of the accretion ice. using whole genome amplification (WGA), which can provide micrograms of unbiased metagenomic DNA from only a few cells. The results of this project have relevance to evolutionary biology and ecology, subglacial Antarctic lake exploration, biotechnology, and astrobiology. The project directly addresses priorities and themes in the International Polar Year at the national and international levels. A legacy of DNA sequence data and the metagenomic library will be created and maintained. Press releases and a publicly available web page will facilitate communication with the public. K-12 outreach will be the focus of a new, two-tiered program targeting the 7th grade classroom and on site visits to the Joint Genome Institute Production Sequencing Facility by high school juniors and seniors and community college level students. Minority undergraduate researchers will be recruited for research on this project, and support and training are provided to two graduate students, a postdoctoral scholar, and a technician.