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元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在进化和地质上相关的时间尺度上的持续寒冷和黑暗条件？沃斯托克湖埋藏在大约4公里厚的冰层下至少1500万年，在长达150万年的时间里阻止了与外部环境的任何交流，是研究这一问题的理想系统。已经冻结在冰盖底部的湖水(吸积冰)可供研究。几项研究表明，在吸积冰中存在低丰度但可检测到的微生物群落。我们的中心假说认为，沃斯托克湖微生物特别适应极端寒冷、黑暗和低营养条件下的生活，这些适应的特征可以在基因、有机体和群落水平上的基因组序列中观察到。为了解决这一假设，我们建议描述吸积冰的超基因组(即群落所有成员的基因组)。使用全基因组扩增(WGA)，它可以从少数细胞中提供微克无偏见的元基因组DNA。该项目的结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序列数据和元基因组文库的遗产。新闻稿和公开的网页将促进与公众的沟通。K-12外展将是一项新的两级计划的重点，该计划针对7年级课堂，以及高三学生、大四学生和社区大学水平的学生对联合基因组研究所生产测序设施的现场访问。将招募少数民族本科研究人员参与该项目的研究，并为两名研究生、一名博士后学者和一名技术员提供支持和培训。

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.