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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #351935
Research Project: Improving Stress and Disease Resistance in Apple Germplasm

Location: Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection

Title: Yeast activities involved in carbon and nitrogen cycles in Antarctica

Author
item VERO, SILVANA - Universidad De La República
item GARMENDIA, GABRIELA - Universidad De La República
item MARTINEZ-SILVEIRA, ADALGISA - Universidad De La República
item CAVELLO, IVANA - Universidad De La República
item Wisniewski, Michael

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2018
Publication Date: 1/12/2019
Citation: Vero, S., Garmendia, G., Martinez-Silveira, A., Cavello, I., Wisniewski, M.E. 2019. Yeast activities involved in carbon and nitrogen cycles in Antarctica. In: Castro-Sowinski, S., editor. The Ecological Role of Micro-organisms in the Antarctic Environment. Springer Polar Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02786-5_3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02786-5_3

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Antarctica and sub Antarctic regions are characterized by extreme conditions for life such as low temperatures and nutrient availability, high solar radiation and dryness, however, microorganisms from the three domains of life have been found as common inhabitants of soils and waters from those zones. Despite bacteria are the most numerous microorganisms in those habitats, a great diversity of psychrotrophic and psychrophilic yeasts have been also isolated and described. Yeasts, as chemoheterotrophic microorganisms, are involved in the recycling and mineralization of organic matter, playing an important role in carbon cycle. The range of organic substrates that they can degrade is wide. Their ability to produce many extracellular hydrolytic enzymes involved in the breakdown of natural organic polymers has been well documented. Moreover, they can also use other substrates as n-alkanes or polyphenolic compounds as a sole carbon and energy source so they could play a role in bioremediation in human-impacted areas. Most of the yeasts obtain their energy by aerobic respiration, however in anaerobic conditions some of them carry out fermentation or anaerobic respiration using nitrate or nitrite as the final electron acceptor. Since in the last case, nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, is produced, those yeasts can be considered as denitrifying microorganisms playing an important role in nitrogen cycle.