Identification of Cultivable and Uncultivable Antarctic Soil Bacteria

Abstract

Diverse bacterial strains were isolated from soil samples that had been collected around the King Sejong Station, King George Island in Antarctica (62° 13′ S, 58° 47′ W). The collected samples were diluted in distilled water, spread on marine agar plates and cultured at 25℃. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the soil bacteria belonged to alpha- and gamma-Proteobacteria, the CFB group, and High GC Gram-positive bacteria. They included Aequorivita, Algoriphagus, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Cellulophaga, Devosia, Flavobacterium, Flexibacter, Formosa, Glaciecola, Microbacterium, Pibocella, Pimelobacter, Planococcus, Plantibacter, Pseudoalteromonas, Psychrobacter, Psychromonas, Rheinheimera, Rhodobacter, Rhodococcus, Roseobacter, Sanguibacter, Shewanella, Thiobacillus, Winogradskyella, and Zobellia species. To directly identify uncultivable bacteria from soil samples, pyrosequencing analysis is in progress.