Life from a Snowflake: Diversity and Adaptation of Cold-Loving Bacteria among Ice Crystals

Abstract

Incredible as it is, researchers have now the awareness that even the most extreme environment includes special habitats that host several forms of life. Cold environments cover different compartments of the cryosphere, as sea and freshwater ice, glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Although these are very particular environmental compartments in which various stressors coexist (i.e., freeze–thaw cycles, scarce water availability, irradiance conditions, and poorness of nutrients), diverse specialized microbial communities are harbored. This raises many intriguing questions, many of which are still unresolved. For instance, a challenging focus is to understand if microorganisms survive trapped frozen among ice crystals for long periods of time or if they indeed remain metabolically active. Likewise, a look at their site-specific diversity and at their putative geochemical activity is demanded, as well as at the equally interesting microbial activity at subzero temperatures. The production of special molecules such as strategy of adaptations, cryoprotectants, and ice crystal-controlling molecules is even more intriguing. This paper aims at reviewing all these aspects with the intent of providing a thorough overview of the main contributors in investigating the microbial life in the cryosphere, touching on the themes of diversity, adaptation, and metabolic potential.