Chronosequence of Bacterial Community from an Ice Cave

The project represents the first investigation of metabolic diversity and activity of microbial communities from a cave ice environment, to reveal the identities and functions of the key players in this ecosystem, using metagenomic and metatranscriptomic Next Generation Sequencing. The project emphasis on a comparative study of total and active microbial communities from ice caves in order to understand the microbial diversity and metabolism in this preservedenvironment, and to establish a chronosequence model reflecting the impact of both climate and environmental pollution on cave ice microcosm.