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Genomics: applications to Antarctic ecosystems

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Abstract

Biological research in Antarctica has made considerable progress in science over recent decades. As little as 50 years ago, there was scant knowledge even of the species inhabiting the region. Since then, understanding has developed rapidly, across diverse disciplines including physiology, biochemistry, ecology and biogeography. Some dramatic global-scale discoveries and advances have been made, including the characterisation of antifreeze proteins from notothenioid fish and the finding that some fish lack a heat shock response, the identification of microbial communities living within the surface layers of rocks and description of the simplest faunal communities known, the identification that possibly the fastest environmental and ecological change on earth is occurring in Antarctic lakes, and that the biodiversity of the Southern Ocean is much greater than previously thought. Findings such as these have made biology in cold extreme environments one of the most stimulating areas for research in recent decades. Now, the advent and widespread applicability of the novel genomic technologies promise to move us into a period of equally, or possibly even more, rapid advance. At present, genomic information on Antarctic species is limited mainly to a number of fish species and microbes. However, an increasing number of Antarctic genomics projects are being funded and will significantly increase the amount of molecular information available on a much wider range of species in the near future. Hence it is timely to review progress so far in the use of genomic methods in Antarctic research and identify exciting prospects for dramatic future advances.

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Acknowledgements

Supported in part by US National Science Foundation grant OPP-0089451 (to H.W.D.). I.A.J. supported by NERC grant GR3/12550. K.R. supported by Wellcome Trust grant no. 042216. This paper was produced by BAS staff within the LATEST and ABPPF core programmes. An abbreviated version of this text was published in Comparative and Functional Genomics (Clark et al. 2004) copyright Wiley, reproduced with permission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK

    Lloyd S. Peck, Melody S. Clark, Andrew Clarke, Charles S. Cockell, Peter Convey, Keiron P. P. Fraser & Alex D. Rogers

  2. Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    H. William Detrich III

  3. Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 8LB, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK

    Ian A. Johnston

  4. TIGR, 9712 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA

    Barbara A. Methe

  5. Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV, 89512, USA

    Alison E. Murray

  6. CIMR and Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Wellcome Trust/MRC Building, University of Cambridge, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2XY, UK

    Karin Römisch

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  1. Lloyd S. Peck
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  2. Melody S. Clark
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Correspondence to Melody S. Clark.

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Peck, L.S., Clark, M.S., Clarke, A. et al. Genomics: applications to Antarctic ecosystems. Polar Biol 28, 351–365 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0671-8

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