Bipolar Investigation Of Near-surface Glacial Ice Reveals An Active Microbial Ecosystem Driven By Photosynthesis And Chemolithoautotrophy

Despite excessive circumstances together with freezing temperatures, low water exercise, and few vitamins, lively microorganisms are thought to inhabit glacial ice, but little is thought about their identities and strategies of survival.

We used circulation cytometry, cultivation, metagenomics, and metatranscriptomics to characterize viable and lively microbial communities from near-surface englacial ice from White Glacier within the Canadian High Arctic and Johnsons Glacier on Livingston Island, Antarctica.

The ice, although low in microbial biomass (104 cells/ml), harbors communities able to progress at subzero temperatures (-5°C), excessive salinity (12% NaCl), and low pH (pH 3). The communities of each poles had been completely different, with metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from White Glacier belonging to Cyanobacteriota and novel phyla and MAGs from Johnsons Glacier belonging to Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota.

Despite this, each glacial communities shared key metabolic capabilities, together with cardio respiration, cardio carbon monoxide oxidation, sulfide oxidation, and denitrification. Metatranscriptomics from White Glacier revealed dominant Cyanobacteriota, performing oxygenic photosynthesis and carbon fixation and accompanied by lively lithoautotrophs performing metabolisms resembling carbon fixation through the 3-hydroxyproprionate cycle, anoxygenic photosynthesis, sulfide oxidation, and nitrate discount/denitrification.

These metabolisms seem to help an lively heterotrophic group performing cardio respiration and cardio carbon monoxide oxidation. This research highlights the distinct however functionally comparable microbial communities in Arctic and Antarctic glaciers, hinting that there could also be a core set of metabolisms required for surviving in englacial ice and suggesting that comparable communities might persist in glacial ice on Mars or the icy outer moons, Europa and Enceladus.

(A) Location of White Glacier on Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut, Canada (Photo credit score: Environmental Systems Research Institute); (B) arial view of White Glacier (Photo credit score: Scott Sugden); (C) location of Johnsons Glacier on Livingston Island, Antarctica (Photo credit score: Environmental Systems Research Institute); (D) photograph of Johnsons Glacier; (E) one of many White Glacier cores used on this research; (F) one of many Johnsons Glacier cores used on this research. — ISME Communications through PubMed

O’Connor BRW, Allen D, Quinn M, Kozey M, Léveillé RJ, Whyte LG.
ISME Commun. 2026 Apr 22;6(1):ycag105. doi: 10.1093/ismeco/ycag105. eCollection 2026 Jan.
PMID: 42164315

Bipolar investigation of near-surface glacial ice reveals an active microbial ecosystem driven by photosynthesis and chemolithoautotrophy, ISME Communications through PubMed

Astrobiology