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CAVICE
Cave ice microbiom: metabolic diversity and
activity in response to climate dynamics and anthropogenic pollution
Diversitatea şi activitatea metabolicǎ a microbiomului
peşterilor de gheaţǎ ca rǎspuns la schimbǎrile climatice şi poluarea
antropicǎ
Project Coordinator: Dr. CRISTINA PURCAREA
ELAC2014/DCC-0178
The overall
interest of the project is to characterize the diversity and metabolism
of total and active microcosm from cave ice, and evaluate past, present and
future consequences of climate driven ice retreat and human impact on
biogeochemical and ecological processes by studying temporal and spatial
changes in ecosystems present in ice and glacier caves from different
geographical locations, and to establish a strategic framework for
multidisciplinary research in ice ecosystems, including investigation of the
applicative potential of ice microcosm in nanotechnology development.
The project
focuses on 1)
determining the
presence and composition of active microbiota and its
metabolic diversity in
perennial cave ice, an unexplored aspect of undergrsound glacial ecosystems,
and its variations across ice layers of different age, by metagenomics and
metatranscriptomics NGS; In addition, using a dual type of ice habitat
comparative study, we will investigate 2) the effect of past and
present climate variations on the functional diversity of total and active
icecontained microbiota from two European ice caves and two South American
glacier caves, and 3) the impact of anthropogenic polluting
activities on the composition and suprametabolism of ice caves microbiom, as
a model for studying current environmental changes in glacial habitats as a
result of human impact. Also, 4) novel isolated icecontained strains
will be screened for metal nanoparticle synthesis of broad
bionanotechnological applicative potential.
Objective 1.
Investigation of functional diversity and metabolic activity of cave ice
microbiome from ice caves and glacier caves
1.1
Sampling of ice
sediments from the ice/glacier caves (WP 1);
1.2
Metagenome and
metatranscriptom reconstitutution of all ice/glacier caves using NGS (WP2,
WP5)
Objective 2.
Survey of past and present climate variations impact on total and active
microbiome from ice caves
2.1
Past climate
stable isotopebased reconstruction in cave ice (WP3);
2.2
Analysis of
climate impact variations on cave ice microbiota (WP6)
Objective 3.
Anthropogenic pollution impact on structural and functional diversity of
cave ice microbiome
3.1
Chemical
analysis of cave ice cores from all ice/glacier caves (WP4);
3.2
Identification
of pollution biomarkers for the anthropogenic impact on cave ice
(WP6)
Objective 4.
Identification of novel psychrophilic/psychrotolerant strains of
biotechnological potential
4 .1
Screening for
metal nanoparticle producing strains from ice/glacier caves (WP5);
4.2
Characterization and separation of biosynthesized metal nanoparticles (WP5)
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