bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/324970; this version posted May 17, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Microbial life under ice: metagenome diversity and in situ activity of Verrucomicrobia in seasonally ice-covered lakes Patricia Tran1,2, Arthi Ramachandran1, Ola Khawasik1, Beatrix E. Beisner2,3, Milla Rautio2,4, Yannick Huot,2,5, David A. Walsh1,2 1 Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec, H4B 1R6, Canada 2 Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en limnologie et environnement aquatique (GRIL), Montréal, Québec, Canada 3 Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec, Canada. 4 Département des sciences fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Québec, Canada 5 Département de géomatique appliquée, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada Corresponding author: David Walsh, Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. West Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 Canada 514-848-2424 ext 3477
[email protected] Running title: Sub-ice Verrucomicrobia genomes in Quebec lakes bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/324970; this version posted May 17, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 Summary 2 Northern lakes are ice-covered for a large part of the year, yet our understanding 3 of microbial diversity and activity during winter lags behind that of the ice-free period. In 4 this study, we investigated under-ice diversity and metabolism of Verrucomicrobia in 5 seasonally ice-covered lakes in temperate and boreal regions of Quebec, Canada using 6 16S rRNA sequencing, metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.