Spatial and Temporal Variations in Species Compositions of Snow Algae on Mt. Tateyama

Snow algae are photosynthetic microbes inhabiting melting snow surfaces in alpine and polar regions. Analysis of 18S rRNA gene revealed that there were six major algal phylotypes in the snow, belonging to Sanguina, Chloromonas, and Chlainomonas groups. Results indicate that the red snow that appeared widely in this alpine area is mostly induced by astaxanthin-rich Sanguina algae, but partially dominated by Chloromonas or Chlainomonas algae.