ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Extreme Microbiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1620620
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Survival and Communities in Thawing PermafrostView all 5 articles
Subzero cell division, respiration, and genomic traits of cryophilic Arthrobacter agilis Ant-EH-1 isolated from cold-arid Antarctic mineral soils
Provisionally accepted
Claudia Wood1Elisse Magnuson1
Ethan Harrop1
Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert2Mary Beth Wilhelm3
Jacqueline Goordial1*- 1University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
- 2Arizona State University, Tempe, United States
- 3NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, United States
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Arthrobacter are commonly isolated from cold soil environments globally, including those that regularly reach sub-freezing temperatures, suggesting that Arthrobacter have significant potential for growth and activity under temperature and stress extremes. Arthrobacter agilis strain Ant-EH-1 was isolated from nutrient-poor, cold-arid mineral soils from Elephant Head, Antarctica and its growth and activity at sub-freezing temperatures were characterized in this study. We observed different optimal temperatures for cell division compared with aerobic heterotrophic respiration in A. agilis Ant-EH-1. Cell division was observed from at least -5C to 30C, with the optimal (fastest) growth rate occurring at 25C. Microbial respiration was measured from -5C to 30C with optimal (maximum CO2 produced) respiration occurring at 5C. Cold temperature optima of respiration compared with cell division could be indicative of adaptation to the cold and oligotrophic conditions of Elephant Head, where increased cell division under in situ conditions could lead to competition within the nutrient-poor soil matrix. The genome of A. agilis Ant-EH-1 was consistent with observations of cold-adapted activity and included genes related to cold stress, osmotic and oxidative stress, pigment biosynthesis, and potential scavenging of components from necromass. Microscopy revealed morphological differences in this isolate at sub-freezing temperatures, likely due to membrane or lipid modifications. Currently there are a limited number of organisms in culture that are capable of sub-zero growth, so characterisation of the growth and activity of subfreezing adapted microbiota is critical for understanding the ecology of Earth's cryosphere, has broad biotechnological potential, and can also give insight into the limits for life on our planet or the potential for life on other cold planetary bodies.
Keywords: psychrophile, cryophile, extremophile, Arthrobacter, Permafrost, cold-adaptation
Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wood, Magnuson, Harrop, Trembath-Reichert, Wilhelm and Goordial. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jacqueline Goordial, goordial@uoguelph.ca
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