Tiny Soil Microbes May Hold Big Clues About a Warming Arctic

Beneath the frozen ground of Finland’s Arctic tundra and forests live bacteria that scientists are only now getting to know. A new study, published in MicrobiologyOpen, present two new species of bacteria, that seem perfectly built to survive in one of the coldest, harshest, and fastest changing places on Earth.

Lee J. Kerkhof and Max M. Häggblom, RCEI Affiliates, are professors at Rutgers University in the Department of Marine and Coastal Science and Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, respectively. The work was done in collaboration with Dr. Minna Männistö, Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland with Dr. Anil Kumar leading the genome analysis of the novel species.

These new bacteria, named Janthinobacterium silvisoli and Janthinobacterium saanense, were found by Dr. Minna Männistö, in soil samples from a tundra mountainside and a lichen-covered pine forest in Finnish Lapland. By reading the bacteria’s full genetic code, the team discovered that these microbes are equipped with an impressive toolkit: genes that let them break down tough plant material like cellulose and ligno-aromatics, pull nitrogen from scarce sources, resist temperature swings, and even produce natural antibiotic-like compounds to help them better compete with other microbes.

These bacteria can play a major role in shaping the future of the Arctic. The region is warming faster than almost anywhere else on the planet, driving changes in the types of plants that can survive there. As plant communities shift, the bacteria in the soil will influence how much of this plant material is broken down. Because plants assimilate carbon from the atmosphere and store it in their tissues, how quickly they decompose matters. Soil microbes ultimately determine whether that stored carbon remains locked in the ground or is released back into the atmosphere. Understanding which bacteria are present—and what they are capable of—gives researchers a clearer picture of how Arctic soils may respond as the climate continues to change.

“These tiny organisms are quietly shaping how carbon moves through one of the planet’s most climate-sensitive regions, and understanding them helps us better predict what a warmer Arctic might mean for all of us.” — Max M. Häggblom

By cataloging the biological diversity of microbes, the study adds a small but important piece to the larger puzzle of climate science. 

You can read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.1002/mbo3.70239

This article was written with assistance from Artificial Intelligence, was reviewed and edited by Kenneth Tam, and was reviewed by Lee J. Kerkhof and Max M. Häggblom, co-authors on the study.