Setting A Polyphasic Approach To Study Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Communities As A Toolkit For Astrobiology

The present study has set up a pilot experiment to optimise the most promising assays for investigating the survival of Antarctic microbial cryptoendolithic communities – a natural astrobiological benchmark – when subjected to lethal/sub-lethal stresses testing viability, cell integrity and metabolic activity.

Namely, the viability tests for culturable species are based on cultivation on a solid medium, while qPCR coupled to propidium monoazide (PMA) provides information of both culturable and non-culturable microorganisms. The fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and Adenosine 5’-TriPhosphate (ATP) assays, here optimised, consent to highlight the presence of metabolically active cells.

The results revealed significant differences between the treated and untreated samples, proving the suitability of the selected tests for investigating the resilience of these astrobiological models.

(a) map of the studied sites: magnification of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and (b) their localisation in the Continental Antarctica; (c) panoramic view of the McMurdo Dry Valleys; (d) Finger Mt; (e) Knobhead. International Journal of Astrobiology, via Xmol

Setting a polyphasic approach to study Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities as a toolkit for astrobiology, International Journal of Astrobiology, via Xmol

Setting a polyphasic approach to study Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities as a toolkit for astrobiology, International Journal of Astrobiology (open access)

Astrobiology