Many subglacial archaeas reportedly use energy in the chemical bonds of ammonium to fix carbon dioxide and function with other metabolic processes. Another group of microorganisms then uses the energy and carbon in methane to survive. It is believed that the ammonium and methane came from the breakdown of organic matter deposited in the Antarctic hundreds of thousands of years ago when the place was warmer.
A landmark for the polar sciences as described by geochemist Martyn Tranter at the University of Bristol in England, the discovery of this subglacial lake life in Antarctic is also a landmark in the science of astrobiology, the search for life on other worlds, according to NatGeo.
This new discovery of subglacial lake life in Antarctic Lake Whillans, a 6-foot-deep, 20-square-mile body of water, kept liquid by heat from the bedrock below and friction from glaciers moving over that bedrock, reportedly adds to the possibilities.
Tranter writes that the authors' findings "beg the question of whether microbes could eat rock beneath ice sheets on extraterrestrial bodies such as Mars."
The microbes' capacity to exist without light or access to organic food sources could reportedly be a model for life on Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa or Saturn's Enceladus.
In recent years, scientists have been recognizing the fact that life can happen in a number of other places they once believed uninhabitable. This understanding led to the suggestion that extraterrestrial life may also exist in places once thought derelict.
Still, chances are slim that Priscu and his team might find animals in Lake Whillans, reports Scientific American. However, they are planning to look for them using better-tailored DNA assays. For now, the origins of the subglacial lake life in Antarctic are still being analyzed by scientists.
Overall, the life in Antarctic's Lake Whillans works like ecosystems at the Earth's surface, though they cannot rely on photosynthesis for energy fixing carbon dioxide dissolved in the lake water.
Lake Whillans is just a small snapshot of the big picture of subglacial lake life in Antarctic, and other teams are reportedly exploring other subglacial lakes to fill in the entirety of the photograph.
Next January, Nat Geo reports that the scientists will be returning to the lake to take samples from a different location, and find out if there are different organisms.
Subglacial lake life in Antarctic shows that life can thrive even in the most inhospitable environments on our planet.
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