The BCCM/ULC collection to conserve and study the biodiversity of Polar cyanobacteria

The BCCM/ULC public collection of Cyanobacteria has been funded since 2011 by the Belgian Science Policy Office. BCCM/ULC is currently holding 226 cyanobacterial strains, with 119 being of Antarctic origin (including 3 from the sub-Antarctic). The cyanobacteria constitute the bacterial phylum with the largest morphological diversity and their taxonomy is still a work in progress. In Polar Regions, Cyanobacteria represent key primary producers and are important drivers of the food webs in a wide range of aquatic to terrestrial habitats. For example, they build extensive benthic microbial mats in lakes and soil crusts in terrestrial biotopes. They have adapted to their environment, and may present interesting features to survive freeze/thaw cycles, seasonally contrasted light intensities, high UV radiations, dessication and other stresses. In this poster, we present the results of the 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis for 76 Antarctic strains. This allows us to illustrate the diversity present in the collection, to detect lineages for which no genome has yet been sequenced, and to pinpoint taxonomic problems that should be addressed in a more comprehensive study.BCCM/ULC collection of cyanobacteri