Buried Antarctic Lake Vostok Teems with Life Despite Harsh Conditions

Buried beneath a glacier in Antarctica lies the frigid Lake Vostok, a body of water that's so dark, deep and cold that scientists believed it could be a possible model for other planets. Now, though, researchers have discovered a surprising amount of life thrives within the lake. The findings could have huge implications for the study of extremophiles, the creatures that live on the edges of existence.

Lake Vostok is the fourth-deepest lake on Earth and the largest subglacial lake to be found in Antarctica. For the past 15 million years, ice has covered this lake, sealing it off from the outside world. More than two miles deep, tremendous pressures are a daily part of this body of water's existence. Few nutrients are available, and the life that does exist there has to deal with constantly harsh and unchanging conditions.

In order to actually detect whether or not life could survive, researchers worked with core sections removed from the deep layer of ice that accreted from lake water that froze onto the bottom of the glacier where it meets the lake.  By sequencing the DNA and RNA from these ice samples, the researchers found thousands of bacteria, including some that are commonly found in the digestive systems of fish, crustaceans and annelid worms. They also found fungi and two species of archaea, single-celled organisms that tend to live in extreme environments.

"We found much more complexity than anyone thought," said Scott Rogers, a Bowling Green State University professor of biological sciences, in a news release. "It really shows the tenacity of life, and how organisms can survive in places where a couple dozen years ago we thought nothing could survive."

Most of the species that the researchers found were what would be expected in a lake. Yet the fact that this particular lake possesses such a seemingly hostile environment makes the findings surprising. Even so, it's likely that these species evolved over millions of years in the same area, adapting to the conditions.

"It's a very challenging project and the more you study, the more you want to know," said Yury Shtarkman, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Every day you are discovering something new and that to more questions to be answered...We are tracing the evolution and the ecology of the lake itself."

The findings reveal that life can overcome extreme difficulties in order to survive. In addition, it reveals that the likelihood of organisms on other planets is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.