FEATURES OF THE FORMATION OF MICROBIOTA IN THE DEGLACIATION ZONE (EASTERN MUGUR GLACIER, SOUTHEASTERN ALTAI)
D.Yu. Vlasov1,2, D.A. Ganyushkin3, G.P. Kopitsa4,5, Yu.E. Gorshkova6,7, N.V. Platonova8, I.Yu. Tikhomirova9, L.A. Pankratova3, S.N. Lessovaia3
1St. Petersburg State University, Biological Faculty, St. Petersburg, Russia
2Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
3St. Petersburg State University, Institute of Earth Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
4Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute named by B.P. Konstantinov of National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute», Gatchina, Russia
5Institute of Silicate Chemistry of Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
6Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia
7Kazan Federal University, Institute of Physics, Kazan, Russia
8St. Petersburg State University, the Research Park, St. Petersburg, Russia
9Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, St. Petersburg, Russia
Keywords: cryoconites, the Altai mountains, mountain glaciers, microbiota
Abstract
An analysis of samples of cryoconite and moraine material collected on the surface of the Eastern Mugur Glacier (Mongun-Taiga Ridge, southeastern Altai) was carried out. The results of metagenomic analysis indicate significant differences in the microbiota of cryoconites at different altitudes of the glacier: at the maximum altitude, the absolute dominance of actinobacteria from the Kineosporiaceae family was noted; closer to the edge, actinobacteria from the Microbacteriaceae family predominated. Representatives with a wide ecological amplitude, as well as psychrophilic and extremophilic bacteria (representatives of the Kineosporiaceae and Geodermatophilaceae families) were found in the cryoconites, which probably indicates different pathways for the microorganisms to enter the cryoconites and possible differences in the time of their presence in these habitats. Actinobacteria are most adapted to the extreme conditions that develop in the cryoconites of the Eastern Mugur Glacier, which contributes to the accumulation of primary biomass and the formation of organomineral substances in cryoconite holes. As one approaches the edge of the glacier, the taxonomic diversity and proportion of microorganisms with a wide ecological amplitude increase, which is probably explained by the airborne transport of particles of moraine material settling in the cryoconites. In the surface moraine material at the edge of the glacier, proteobacteria (representatives of the Sphingomonadaceae family) turned out to be superdominants, which may be associated with the processes of initial soil formation.
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