Bacteriophages in Arctic and Antarctic low-temperature systems

Abstract

Comparative analysis of the presence of bacteriophages was carried out for the water column of a permanently ice-covered, extremely oligotrophic Lake Untersee (East Antarctica) and the ancient ice wedge of the Mamontova Gora outcrop (Aldan River, Central Yakutia). Microscopy revealed bacteriophages in the Mamontova Gora ice samples and in the lysates of the pure cultures of phage-sensitive bacteria isolated from the same samples. Bacteriophages isolated from these cultures were filamentous and interacted with bacteria as moderate (lysogenic) phages. A similar filamentous bacteriophage was isolated from the Lake Untersee water column. The highest morphological diversity of bacteriophages was revealed by microscopy in the oxic Lake Untersee water column in the chemocline zone (70–76 m) and in the sulfide layer (85 m). Detection of similar filamentous bacteriophages in a relic ice sample and in the samples from Antarctic Lake Untersee indicate wide occurrence of bacteriophages and lysogeny in microbial communities of low-temperature ecosystems.