Characterization of the diversity and metabolic potential of hypolithic communities in Dronning Maud Land, western Antarctica

Despite the harsh environment, Antarctica harbors diverse and thriving microbial communities in a variety of micro-niches, one of which are hypoliths. These are heterogenous microorganisms that develop under mostly translucent rocks in ice-free areas of the continent. In this study, the 16S rRNA gene was targeted and high through-put sequencing using MiSeq specific primers used to identify the microbial diversity within hypolith communities in the Dronning Maud Land, taking into consideration abiotic factors that could play a role in the distribution of species within these species, which to our knowledge had been lacking in terms of the microbiology in Dronning Maud Land hypolithic communities.