{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]],"date-time":"2026-06-26T17:04:25Z","timestamp":1782493465868,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,30]],"date-time":"2022-08-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1661817600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), the Italian Ministry of Education and Research","award":["PNRA 2013\/AZ1.05"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PNRA 2013\/AZ1.05"]}]},{"name":"National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), the Italian Ministry of Education and Research","award":["PNRA 2016_00194-A1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PNRA 2016_00194-A1"]}]},{"name":"National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), the Italian Ministry of Education and Research","award":["PNRA 2018_00186-E"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PNRA 2018_00186-E"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The evaporation of a localized, highly saline water body of the Boulder Clay debris-covered glacier, in the Northern Victoria Land, probably generated the accumulation of mirabilite (Na2SO4 \u00d7 10H2O) and thenardite (Na2SO4) in a glacier salt-cone. Such an extremely cold and salty environment resembles the conditions on Mars, so it can be considered a terrestrial analog. The study was aimed at gaining a first glimpse at the prokaryotic community associated with Antarctic mirabilite and thenardite minerals and also to find clues about the origin of the salts. For this purpose, samples were analyzed by a next generation approach to investigate the prokaryotic (Bacteria and Archaea) diversity. Phylogenetic analysis allowed the identification of Bacteroidota, Actinobacteriota, Firmicutes, and Gammaproteobacteria as the main bacterial lineages, in addition to Archaea in the phylum Halobacterota. The genera Arthrobacter, Rhodoglobus, Gillisia, Marinobacter and Psychrobacter were particularly abundant. Interestingly, several bacterial and archaeal sequences were related to halotolerant and halophilic genera, previously reported in a variety of marine environments and saline habitats, also in Antarctica. The analyzed salt community also included members that are believed to play a major role in the sulfur cycle.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms10091753","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,31]],"date-time":"2022-08-31T00:13:56Z","timestamp":1661904836000},"page":"1753","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Antarctic Salt-Cones: An Oasis of Microbial Life? The Example of Boulder Clay Glacier (Northern Victoria Land)"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7885-2340","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maurizio","family":"Azzaro","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Polar Sciences, National Research Council (CNR-ISP), 98122 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6013-4436","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria","family":"Papale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Polar Sciences, National Research Council (CNR-ISP), 98122 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4340-3833","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carmen","family":"Rizzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Polar Sciences, National Research Council (CNR-ISP), 98122 Messina, Italy"},{"name":"Stazione Zoologica \u201cAnton Dohrn\u201d, Marine Biotechnology Department, Sicily Marine Centre, Villa Pace, 98168 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5995-9254","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emanuele","family":"Forte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, Trieste University, 34128 Trieste, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8498-8225","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Davide","family":"Lenaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, Trieste University, 34128 Trieste, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5966-9572","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mauro","family":"Guglielmin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Polar Sciences, National Research Council (CNR-ISP), 98122 Messina, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Insubria University, 21100 Varese, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8842-083X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Angelina","family":"Lo Giudice","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Polar Sciences, National Research Council (CNR-ISP), 98122 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1756","DOI":"10.2138\/am.2007.2668","article-title":"Meridianiite: A new mineral species observed on Earth and predicted to exist on Mars","volume":"92","author":"Peterson","year":"2007","journal-title":"Am. 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