Millennial-scale depth-resolved ancient microbial diversity and pathogenic potential in Styx Glacier, Antarctica

The cryosphere offers crucial insights into historical ecosystems and biomes on our planet, preserving ancient microorganisms and other biological materials. The recent discovery of pathogens released from permafrost and Arctic regions has emphasized potential threats to human health. However, the ancient microbial diversity in Antarctic glaciers remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, we investigated the microbial diversity and the presence of potential pathogens in the Styx ice core (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica) with millennial-scale dated between 525 and 1978 CE. A total of 656 isolates, representing 27 species, were obtained by incubation on four different media at 10 °C and 25 °C. Among the cultured isolates, the Alphaproteobacteria was the predominant class, with Sphingomonas echinoides (70 % at 10 °C) and Bradyrhizobium elkanii (76.2 % at 25 °C) being the most prevalent species across all depths. Genomic analysis of four isolates (Roseomonas mucosa, Gordonia hongkongensis, Paenibacillus glucanolyticus, and Dermacoccus nishinomiyaensis) among nine species suspected to be potential pathogens was performed to identify the presence of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes. Amino acid sequences of HbhA, a mycobacterial surface antigen, in G. hongkongensis strains exhibit AKKA repeat motifs, similar to those found in pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Nocardia cyriacigeorgica. Furthermore, the hemolysin produced by R. mucosa and P. glucanolyticus showed no activity at 25 °C but exhibited activity at 37 °C. This study demonstrated that glacial ice contains core microbiomes and also highlighted the presence of potential opportunistic pathogens, resonating between ancient microbiology and contemporary environmental health concerns.