Microbial community patterns vary in glaciers worldwide, presenting uniqueresponses to global climatic and environmental changes. Four bacterial clonelibraries were established by 16S rRNA gene amplification from four icelayers along the 42-m-long ice core MuztB drilled from the Muztag AtaGlacier. A total of 151 bacterial sequences obtained from the ice core MuztBwere phylogenetically compared with the 71 previously reported sequencesfrom three ice cores extracted from ice caps Malan, Dunde, and Puruogangri.Six phylogenetic clusters Flavisolibacter, Flexibacter(Bacteroidetes), Acinetobacter, Enterobacter(Gammaproteobacteria), Planococcus/Anoxybacillus (Firmicutes), andPropionibacter/Luteococcus (Actinobacteria) frequently occurred along the Muztag Ata Glacier profile, and theirproportion varied by seasons. Sequence analysis showed that most of thesequences from the ice core clustered with those from cold environments, andthe sequence clusters from the same glacier more closely grouped togetherthan those from the geographically isolated glaciers. Moreover, bacterialcommunities from the same location or similarly aged ice formed a cluster,and were clearly separate from those from other geographically isolatedglaciers. In summary, the findings provide preliminary evidence of zonaldistribution of microbial community, and suggest biogeography ofmicroorganisms in glacier ice.
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