Metagenomic exploration of cold-active enzymes for detergent applications: Characterization of a novel, cold-active and alkali-stable GH8 endoglucanase from ikaite columns in SW Greenland.

Microbial communities from extreme environments are largely understudied, but are essential as producers of metabolites, including enzymes, for industrial processes. As cultivation of most microorganisms remains a challenge, culture-independent approaches for enzyme discovery in the form of metagenomics to analyse the genetic potential of a community are rapidly becoming the way forward. This study focused on analysing a metagenome from the cold and alkaline ikaite columns in Greenland, identifying 282 open reading frames (ORFs) that encoded putative carbohydrate-modifying enzymes with potential applications in, for example detergents and other processes where activity at low temperature and high pH is desired.

Investigating eukaryotic and prokaryotic diversity and functional potential in the cold and alkaline ikaite columns in Greenland.

The ikaite columns in the Ikka Fjord, SW Greenland, represent a permanently cold and alkaline environment known to contain a rich bacterial diversity. 16S and 18S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomic sequencing was used to investigate the microbial diversity in the columns and for the first time, the eukaryotic and archaeal diversity in ikaite columns were analyzed. The results showed a rich prokaryotic diversity that varied across columns as well as within each column.

The undiscovered biosynthetic potential of the Greenland Ice Sheet microbiome.

The Greenland Ice Sheet is a biome which is mainly microbially driven. Several different niches can be found within the glacial biome for those microbes able to withstand the harsh conditions, e.g.

Complete genome sequence of "Bacillaceae sp. strain IKA-2": a cold-active, amylase-producing bacterium from ikaite columns in SW Greenland.

Bacillaceae sp. strain IKA-2 is a bacterium isolated from the permanently cold and alkaline ikaite columns in the Ikka Fjord in SW Greenland (61°12'05″N; 48°00'50″W). The bacterium grows well at 10°C in a substrate buffered to pH 10.

Plant-Root Exudate Analogues Influence Activity of the 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-Carboxylate (ACC) Deaminase Gene in G20-18.

Plants exposed to abiotic stress such as drought and salinity produce 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) that is converted into the stress hormone ethylene. However, plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), which synthesize the enzyme ACC deaminase, may lower the ACC concentration thereby reducing the concentration of ethylene and alleviating the abiotic stress. The PGPB G20-18 (previously named G20-18) harbors the genes and that encode regulation and synthesis of ACC deaminase, respectively.