sp. nov., isolated from a thawing ancient ice wedge.

A novel actinobacterium, strain K3-2, was isolated in pure culture from a thawing ancient ice wedge at Mammoth Mountain (Eastern Siberia, Russia). Colonies of strain K3-2 were yellowish orange; cells had the fine structure typical of Gram-positive bacteria, were non-motile short rods and were non-spore-forming. Strain K3-2 was mesophilic (optimum growth at 28 °С), but capable of growing at 4 °С.

Prokaryotic community in Pleistocene ice wedges of Mammoth Mountain.

Ice wedges differ from other types of surface and underground glacial bodies and are widely spread in perennially frozen sub-Arctic regions, but the bacterial and archaeal diversity in these permafrost features remains poorly studied. Here, we compared the prokaryotic community composition in the active layer and ancient, 13-19 kyr BP and ~ 40 kyr BP, ice wedge horizons from the same exposure profile of the Mammoth Mountain, using pyrosequencing 16S rRNA gene. The most abundant OTUs in the active layer were affiliated with Acidobacteria (31.

[Effect of Distant Interactions on Growth and Development of Streptomycetes].

Regulation of streptomycete growth and development by distant interactions of physical nature was shown using a vial-in-vial experimental setup, providing physical isolation of the inducer and detector cultures. Some effects of distant interaction were observed with Streptomyces netropsis proliferating submerged culture as an inducer and a surface culture of the same strain as a detector. The growth rate of the detector strain doubled.

[Diversity of bacterial forms in ice wedge of the Mamontova Gora Glacial complex (central Yakutiya)].

Electron microscopic investigation of four samples of ancient ice wedge from the Pleistocene glacial complex of Mamontova Gora (Yakutiya, Russia) revealed high diversity of bacteriomorphic particles. Their structural features included the presence of electron-transparent zones, presumably inclusions containing storage compounds, and microenvironment (capsules or external sheaths). These features may be a result of adaptive strategies providing for microbial survival under permafrost conditions.