Atmospheric trace gases support primary production in Antarctic desert surface soil

Letter

Cultivation-independent surveys have shown that the desert soils of Antarctica harbour surprisingly rich microbial communities¹⁻³. Given that phototroph abundance varies across these Antarctic soils²·⁴, an enduring question is what supports life in those communities with low photosynthetic capacity³·⁵. Here we provide evidence that atmospheric trace gases are the primary energy sources of two Antarctic surface soil communities. We reconstructed 23 draft genomes from metagenomic reads, including genomes from the candidate bacterial phyla WPS-2 and AD3. The dominant community members encoded and expressed high-affinity hydrogenases, carbon monoxide dehydrogenases, and a RuBisCO lineage known to support chemosynthetic carbon fixation⁶·⁷. Soil microcosms aerobically scavenged atmospheric H₂ and CO at rates sufficient to sustain their theoretical maintenance energy and mediated substantial levels of chemosynthetic but not photosynthetic CO₂ fixation. We propose that atmospheric H₂, CO₂ and CO provide dependable sources of energy and carbon to support these communities, which suggests that atmospheric energy sources can provide an alternative basis for ecosystem function to solar or geological energy sources⁸·⁹. Although more extensive sampling is required to verify whether this process is widespread in terrestrial Antarctica and other oligotrophic habitats, our results provide new understanding of the minimal nutritional requirements for life and open the possibility that atmospheric gases support life on other planets.

Mukan Ji, Chris Greening, Inka Vanwonterghem, Carlo R. Carere, Sean K. Bay, Jason A. Steen, Kate Montgomery, Thomas Lines, John Beardall, Josie van Dorst, Ian Snape, Matthew B. Stott, Philip Hugenholtz & Belinda C. Ferrari