Evidence of bacterial life found in deepest-yet Antarcti...( refrozen from the liquid waters of the ...)

refrozen from the liquid waters of the lake, suggesting that the lake can support life in an extremely cold environment, cut off from a ready supply of nutrients and light. Although Priscus's work indicates the bacteria are biologically similar to other organisms known to science, scientists "don't know how 'lake-like' this accreted water is" and whether it may contain larger, more diverse populations, according to Karl.

It may, however, indirectly provide evidence that microbes could thrive in other similarly hostile places in the solar system.

In addition, the Antarctic ice cores provide a continuous climate record stretching back more than 400,000 years. Obtaining sediment samples from the bottom of Lake Vostok could extend the climate record to cover millions of years.

Both Karl and Priscu receive research funding from the National Science Foundation. Karl's group includes D. F. Bird, of the Université du Quebec á Montreal, and K. Björkman, T. Houlihan, R. Shackelford and L. Tupas of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

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Contact: David Karl
dkarl@soest.hawaii.edu
808-956-8964
University of Hawaii
8-Dec-1999

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