Microbial Communities Present in Hydrothermal Sediments from Deception Island, Antarctica

Deception Island is a geothermal location in Antarctica that presents active fumaroles, which confers unique characteristics to this habitat. Several studies about microbial communities have been carried out, nevertheless, Antarctic microbiota still partially unknown. Here we present multidisciplinary study sediments obtained by deposition during 4 years several approaches considered for their characterization. First, physicochemical characterization, using ionic chromatography and mass spectrometry the determination of most abundant ions (chloride sulphate) elements (mainly silicon), was conducted. In addition, total community studied metataxonomical approach, revealing bacterial dominated Proteobacteria Thaumarchaeota as main archaeal genera fungal mainly composed Aspergillaceae. Culture-dependent showed low diversity, only achieving isolation Bacillus-related species, some them thermophilic, common fungi Aspergillus or Penicillium spp. Furthermore, diatoms were detected sediment characterized attending morphological scanning electron microscopy. The reveals high influence conditions populations distribution, offering valuable data on interaction between island water microbiota.