microorganisms Article Investigating Algal Communities in Lacustrine and Hydro-Terrestrial Environments of East Antarctica Using Deep Amplicon Sequencing Yuu Hirose 1,* , Takuhei Shiozaki 2,3, Masahiro Otani 4, Sakae Kudoh 5,6, Satoshi Imura 5,6 , Toshihiko Eki 1 and Naomi Harada 2 1 Department of Applied Chemistry and Life Science, Toyohashi University of Technology, Aichi 441-8580, Japan;
[email protected] 2 Earth Surface System Research Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan;
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[email protected] (N.H.) 3 Current address: Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Chiba 277-8564, Japan 4 Faculty of Agriculture, Niigata University, Niigata 950-2181, Japan;
[email protected] 5 National Institute of Polar Research, Corporation Research Organization of Information and Systems, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan;
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[email protected] (S.I.) 6 Department of Polar Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Tokyo 190–8518, Japan * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 5 February 2020; Accepted: 24 March 2020; Published: 31 March 2020 Abstract: Antarctica has one of the most extreme environments on Earth, with low temperatures and low nutrient levels. Antarctica’s organisms live primarily in the coastal, ice-free areas which cover approximately 0.18% of the continent’s surface. Members of Cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae are important primary producers in Antarctica since they can synthesize organic compounds from carbon dioxide and water using solar energy.