Environmental controls on bacteriohopanepolyol profiles of benthic microbial mats from Lake Fryxell, Antarctica.

Bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs) are pentacyclic triterpenoid lipids that contribute to the structural integrity and physiology of some bacteria. Because some BHPs originate from specific classes of bacteria, BHPs have potential as taxonomically and environmentally diagnostic biomarkers. For example, a stereoisomer of bacteriohopanetetrol (informally BHT II) has been associated with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria and suboxic to anoxic marine environments where anammox is active. As a result, the detection of BHT II in the sedimentary record and fluctuations in the relative abundance of BHT II may inform reconstructions of nitrogen cycling and ocean redox changes through the geological record. However, there are uncertainties concerning the sources of BHT II and whether or not BHT II is produced in abundance in non-marine environments, both of which are pertinent to interpretations of BHT II signatures in sediments. To address these questions, we investigate the BHP composition of benthic microbial mats from Lake Fryxell, Antarctica. Lake Fryxell is a perennially ice-covered lake with a sharp oxycline in a density-stabilized water column. We describe the diversity and abundance of BHPs in benthic microbial mats across a transect from oxic to anoxic conditions. Generally, BHP abundances and diversity vary with the morphologies of microbial mats, which were previously shown to reflect local environmental conditions, such as irradiance and oxygen and sulfide concentrations. BHT II was identified in mats that exist within oxic to anoxic portions of the lake. However, anammox bacteria have yet to be identified in Lake Fryxell. We examine our results in the context of BHPs as biomarkers in modern and ancient environments.

Matys ED ，Mackey T ，Grettenberger C ，Mueller E ，Jungblut A ，Sumner DY ，Hawes I ，Summons RE ... -  《-》

Bacteriohopanepolyols across environmental gradients in Lake Vanda, Antarctica.

Bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs) are bacterial membrane lipids that may be used as biological or environmental biomarkers. Previous studies have described the diversity, distribution, and abundance of BHPs in a variety of modern environments. However, the regulation of BHP production in polar settings is not well understood. Benthic microbial mats from ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica provide an opportunity to investigate the sources, physiological roles, and preservation of BHPs in high-latitude environments. Lake Vanda is one of the most stable lakes on Earth, with microbial communities occupying specific niches along environmental gradients. We describe the influence of mat morphology and local environmental conditions on the diversity and distribution of BHPs and their biological sources in benthic microbial mats from Lake Vanda. The abundance and diversity of C-2 methylated hopanoids (2-MeBHP) are of particular interest, given that their stable degradation products, 2-methylhopanes, are among the oldest and most prevalent taxonomically informative biomarkers preserved in sedimentary rocks. Furthermore, the interpretation of sedimentary 2-methylhopanes is of great interest to the geobiology community. We identify cyanobacteria as the sole source of 2-MeBHP in benthic microbial mats from Lake Vanda and assess the hypothesis that 2-MeBHP are regulated in response to a particular environmental variable, namely solar irradiance.

Matys ED ，Mackey T ，Grettenberger C ，Mueller E ，Sumner DY ，Hawes I ，Summons RE ... -  《-》

Bacteriohopanepolyols along redox gradients in the Humboldt Current System off northern Chile.

Marine oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are characterized by the presence of subsurface suboxic or anoxic waters where diverse microbial processes are responsible for the removal of fixed nitrogen. OMZs have expanded over past decades and are expected to continue expanding in response to the changing climate. The implications for marine biogeochemistry, particularly nitrogen cycling, are uncertain. Cell membrane lipids (biomarkers), such as bacterial bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs) and their degradation products (hopanoids), have distinctive structural attributes that convey information about their biological sources. Since the discovery of fossil hopanoids in ancient sediments, the study of BHPs has been of great biogeochemical interest due to their potential to serve as proxies for bacteria in the geological record. A stereoisomer of bacteriohopanetetrol (BHT), BHT II, has been previously identified in OMZ waters and has as been unequivocally identified in culture enrichments of anammox bacteria, a key group contributing to nitrogen loss in marine OMZs. We tested BHT II as a proxy for suboxia/anoxia and anammox bacteria in suspended organic matter across OMZ waters of the Humboldt Current System off northern Chile, as well as in surface and deeply buried sediments (125-150 ky). The BHT II ratio (BHT II/total BHT) increases as oxygen content decreases through the water column, consistent with previous results from Perú, the Cariaco Basin and the Arabian Sea, and in line with microbiological evidence indicating intense anammox activity in the Chilean OMZ. Notably, BHT II is transported from the water column to surface sediments, and preserved in deeply buried sediments, where the BHT II ratio correlates with changes in δ15 N sediment values during glacial-interglacial transitions. This study suggests that BHT II offers a proxy for past changes in the relative importance of anammox, and fluctuations in nitrogen cycling in response to ocean redox changes through the geological record.

Matys ED ，Sepúlveda J ，Pantoja S ，Lange CB ，Caniupán M ，Lamy F ，Summons RE ... -  《-》

Microbial Mat Communities along an Oxygen Gradient in a Perennially Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake.

Lake Fryxell is a perennially ice-covered lake in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, with a sharp oxycline in a water column that is density stabilized by a gradient in salt concentration. Dissolved oxygen falls from 20 mg liter(-1) to undetectable over one vertical meter from 8.9- to 9.9-m depth. We provide the first description of the benthic mat community that falls within this oxygen gradient on the sloping floor of the lake, using a combination of micro- and macroscopic morphological descriptions, pigment analysis, and 16S rRNA gene bacterial community analysis. Our work focused on three macroscopic mat morphologies that were associated with different parts of the oxygen gradient: (i) "cuspate pinnacles" in the upper hyperoxic zone, which displayed complex topography and were dominated by phycoerythrin-rich cyanobacteria attributable to the genus Leptolyngbya and a diverse but sparse assemblage of pennate diatoms; (ii) a less topographically complex "ridge-pit" mat located immediately above the oxic-anoxic transition containing Leptolyngbya and an increasing abundance of diatoms; and (iii) flat prostrate mats in the upper anoxic zone, dominated by a green cyanobacterium phylogenetically identified as Phormidium pseudopriestleyi and a single diatom, Diadesmis contenta. Zonation of bacteria was by lake depth and by depth into individual mats. Deeper mats had higher abundances of bacteriochlorophylls and anoxygenic phototrophs, including Chlorobi and Chloroflexi. This suggests that microbial communities form assemblages specific to niche-like locations. Mat morphologies, underpinned by cyanobacterial and diatom composition, are the result of local habitat conditions likely defined by irradiance and oxygen and sulfide concentrations.

Jungblut AD ，Hawes I ，Mackey TJ ，Krusor M ，Doran PT ，Sumner DY ，Eisen JA ，Hillman C ，Goroncy AK ... -  《-》

Stable isotopic biogeochemistry of carbon and nitrogen in a perennially ice-covered Antarctic lake.

Wharton RA Jr ，Lyons WB ，Des Marais DJ 《-》