In Lake Vostok under the ice is life

In Lake Vostok, hidden under the Antarctic ice shell thickness of about 4 km, can live relatively complex living organisms. To such conclusion the American scientists.

In Lake Vostok, hidden under the Antarctic ice shell thickness of about 4 km, can live relatively complex living organisms.

In ice samples taken at a depth close to the surface of the lake, found traces of the genetic material of bacteria often associated marine mollusks, crustaceans, and even fish.

However, these signs may also have an external origin, says a group of scientists in.

In the scientific community to date, it is generally accepted that under the thickness of the Antarctic ice is a dense network of rivers.

For this reason, the identified organisms or traces could be brought into the lake located at 200 m below sea level, from the ocean.

East Lake was discovered in 1956 by Soviet researchers. His map was drawn up in 1990 by the British.

The depth of the lake is 800 m, the area - 15 thousand square meters. km.

It is believed that the East remains isolated from the atmosphere for millions of years. Recently, the drilling work aimed at extracting water samples from the lake, but the stated purpose they have not yet reached.

In a study published in PLoS, studied fragments of ribonucleic acid (RNA) of the layers of ice on the frozen below the moving ice layers above the lake.

The detected RNA fragments coincided with thousands of sequences previously recorded in genetic databases. The vast majority (94%) correspond to the different types of bacteria.

Another 6% correspond to sample eukaryotes - organisms having a more complex cell structure comprising the core.

The few specimens identified as Archaea - a very primitive single-celled microbes.

On many types of bacteria, traces of which are found in ice samples, we know that they come in a variety of forms of interaction - from symbiosis to parasitism - a multicellular living organisms, including annelids, sea anemones, brachiopods, tardigrades (both are - small marine invertebrates) and fish, scientists say.

Also identified the bacteria prefer warm places, such as geothermal springs on the seabed. If such sources are available at the bottom of Lake Vostok, they can "ensure the organisms living in the lake, energy and nutrients," the researchers note.

East Lake - the largest of about 375 subglacial water bodies identified by researchers in Antarctica today.

Lake "ghost" do not freeze to the bottom because of the energy coming from the bottom of rocks, as well as the pressure of the ice layers on top, lowers the freezing point of water.

Subglacial lakes are of particular interest to astrobiologists because the conditions they may be similar to those in waters that may exist under the ice cover of some satellites of the planets in the solar system.

If life exists in Lake Vostok, it can search for and under the ice of Europa orbiting Jupiter, and Enceladus - one of the many moons of Saturn, the researchers argue.

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