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Isolation of fungi from Lake Vostok accretion ice

     ¹ Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio
² Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State Univ, Bowling Green, OH, 43403-0212, United States of America

Here, we report the characterization of fungi from ten accretion ice sections (3300 to 5100 years old), as well as two deep glacial ice sections that are close to the bottom of the glacier (1 to 2 million years old) from the Vostok, Antarctica 5G ice core. Fungi were characterized by fluorescence microscopy, culturing, and sequence analyses of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacers. A total of 270 fungal colonies were cultured from the accretion ice of subglacial Lake Vostok, and an additional 14 from the glacial ice immediately above the accretion ice. Mean cell concentrations were from 0 to 4.42 cells ml-1 of ice meltwater, of which 0 to 100% exhibited viability (as determined by fluorescence microscopy). Thirty-one unique fungal ribosomal DNA sequences (28 from accretion ice and 3 from glacial ice) were determined and compared to recent taxa. The results, plus tests for growth at low temperatures, indicate that Lake Vostok contains a mixture of heterotrophic psychrotolerant fungal species. This indicates that the lake is not sterile, but contains a unique ecosystem.

Key words: subglacial lake, Antarctica, heterotrophs, ITS