Antarctic bacteria share ‘life-support’ genes to survive extreme conditions

Ry Holland , CC BY Antarctica is one of the driest, coldest places on Earth.

Very little life survives its extremes.

In the soils dotted around the frozen ice sheets, however, communities of microbes do survive.

And one of the keys to their success is a surprisingly communal strategy.

Unrelated organisms share the tools for survival by transferring genes among themselves, including genes that allow them to make energy from the air itself.

In new research, we studied the genomes of 676 microbe species and discovered that almost all of them (around 98%) showed evidence of swapping genes with other microbes.

The study is published in Nature Communications.

Energy from the air Our findings suggest this process, known as horizontal gene transfer, is a key to Antarctic microbe survival.

Genes involved in energy production were among the most frequently transferred.

In particular, the genetic tools that allow microbes to generate energy from atmospheric gases, a process known as “ aerotrophy ”, were very commonly shared.

This is probably because they help microbes harvest scarce resources from their harsh environment.

Aerotrophy allows microbes to use tiny amounts of gases in the atmosphere, such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, as an energy source.

In most environments, aerotrophy is like a backup generator, allowing bacteria to survive when other resources such as food and sunlight are scarce.

But in Antarctica, it seems to be needed for everyday survival.