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

该项目汇集了分子微生物生态学、南极和深海环境以及宏基因组学方面的专业研究人员，以解决一个首要问题：微生物主导的生态系统如何在进化和地质相关的时间尺度上适应持续寒冷和黑暗的条件？沃斯托克湖（Lake Vostok）被埋在大约4公里的冰层下至少1500万年，在长达150万年的时间里，它阻止了与外部环境的任何交流。它是研究这个问题的理想系统。湖中的水已经冻结到冰盖的底部（积冰），可以用于研究。几项研究表明，在冰积层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，沃斯托克湖的微生物特别适应极端寒冷、黑暗和营养不良的生活条件，这些适应的特征可以在基因、有机体和群落水平的基因组序列中观察到。为了解决这一假设，我们建议表征增生冰的宏基因组（即所有群落成员的基因组）。使用全基因组扩增（WGA），它可以从少数细胞中提供微克的无偏倚宏基因组DNA。该项目的研究成果涉及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等领域。该项目在国家和国际两级直接处理国际极地年的优先事项和主题。遗留的DNA序列数据和宏基因组文库将被创建和维护。新闻稿和公开网页将有助于与公众沟通。K-12外展将是一个新的两层计划的重点，该计划的目标是七年级的教室，以及由高中三年级、四年级和社区大学水平的学生实地参观联合基因组研究所生产测序设施。本项目将招收少数民族本科研究人员参与研究，并为2名研究生、1名博士后、1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.