Exopolysaccharide (EPS) is complex sugar made by many microbes in the Antarctic marine environment. This project seeks to understand the ecological role of microbial EPS in the Southern Ocean, where it is known to strongly influence primary production. We will investigate the chemical composition and structure of EPS obtained from Antarctic microbes, which will improve our knowledge of its ecological significance and biotechnological potential. Dataset includes the following: 1) Information on Exopolysaccharide-producing bacterial isolates, isolation sites, media used and growth conditions. 2) 16S rRNA gene sequence and fatty acid data of isolates for strain identification. 3) Exopolysaccharide chemistry data including EPS carbohydrate composition, organic acid composition, sulfate content, molecular weight. 4) Physiology of exopolysaccharide synthesis. Effects of temperature and other factors on EPS yield and glucose conversion efficiency. 5) Iron binding properties. The download file includes: 11 files File 1. Bacterial isolate 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained from Southern Ocean seawater or ice samples. The sequences are all deposited on the GenBank nucleotide (NCBI) database. Sequences are in FASTA format. File 2. Seawater and sea-ice sample information including sites samples, sample type. File 3. Data for exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producing bacteria isolated and subsequently selected for further studied. Information indicates special treatments used to obtain strains including plankton towing, filtration method, and enrichment. Identification to species level was determined by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. File 4. EPS-producing bacterial isolate fatty acid content determined using GC/MS procedures. File 5. Basic chemical data for EPS from Antarctic isolates including protein, sulfate, and sugar type relative content (determined by chemical procedures), molecular weight in kilodaltons and polydispersity (determined by gel-based molecular seiving). File 6 Monosaccharide unit composition determined by GC/MS of EPS from Antarctic isolates. File 7. Effect of temperature on culture viscosity and growth of EPS-producing bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. CAM025 as affected by temperature. File 8. Effect of temperature on EPS and cell yields and EPS synthesis efficiency (as indicated by glucose consumption) of EPS-producing bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. CAM025 as affected by temperature. File 9. Efficiency of copper and cadmium metal ion adsorption onto EPS from EPS-producing bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. CAM025. File 10. Phenotypic characteristics data for novel EPS-producing Antarctic strain CAM030. Represents type strain of Olleya marilimosa. File 11. Effect of temperature on chemical make up of EPS from EPS-producing bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. CAM025.

The data set includes information relevant for the study and description of sea-ice bacteria contains the following dataset subgroups and is organised by REFERENCE number. 1) Isolation data: strain designations (e.g. culture collection names are indicated for type cultures); media used for isolation and routine cultivation; temperature used for incubation; any special conditions (e.g. enrichment conditions) used for isolation; isolation site and type (e.g. sea-ice); availability of the indicated strain from the chief investigator (J. Bowman) 2) Phenotypic data: Includes morphological, physiological and biochemical tests performed. Details on how these were performed are indicated in the relevant reference. 3) Growth/temperature data: data for temperature related growth curves are given where available. Methods are indicated in the associated reference. 4) Fatty acid/chemotaxonomy data: fatty acid and other related data are given where available. Methods are indicated in the associated reference. 5) Genotypic data: data for DNA-guanosine/cytosine-content and genomic DNA:DNA hybridization are shown where available. Methods are indicated in the associated reference. 6) Phylogenetic data: data for sequences are cross-referenced to the GenBank database. In some cases, aligned sequence datasets are available in FASTA format and can be viewed in the programs BIOEDIT (www.mbio.ncsu.edu/BioEdit/bioedit.html) or CLUSTAL W (www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw). 7) Other related published references which are useful or relevant to the dataset e.g. related sequences published subsequent to the ASAC study

Antarctic sediments and sea-ice are important regulators in global biogeochemical and atmospheric cycles. These ecosystems contain a diverse range of bacteria whose biogeochemical roles remains largely unknown and which inhabit what are continually low temperature habitats. An integrated molecular and chemical approach will be used to investigate the coupling of microbial biogeochemical processes with community structure and cold adaptation within coastal Antarctic marine sediments and within sea-ice. Overall the project expects to make an important contribution to our understanding of biological processes within low temperature habitats. DATA SET ORGANISATION: The dataset is organised on the basis of publication and is organised on the basis of the following sections: 1. SEDIMENT SAMPLES and ISOLATES Samples collected are described in terms of location, type and where data were obtained chemical features. The designation, source, media used for cultivation and isolation and availability of sediment and other related isolates are provided. Samples included are from the following locations: Clear Lake, Pendant Lake, Scale Lake, Ace Lake, Burton Lake, Ekho Lake, Organic Lake, Deep lake and Taynaya Bay (Burke Basin), Vestfold Hills region; and the Mertz Glacier Polynya region. 2. BIOMASS and ENZYME ACTIVITY DATA Biomass, numbers and extracellular enzyme activity data are provided for Bacteria and Archaea populations from Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediments. 3. FATTY ACID and TETRAETHER LIPID DATA Phospholipid and tetraether lipid data are provided for Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediments. Whole cell fatty acid data are provided for various bacterial isolates described officially as new genera or species. 4. RNA HYBRIDISATION DATA RNA hybridisation data for Mertz Glacier Polynya sediment samples is provided, including data for oligonucleotide probes specifc for total Bacteria, Archaea, the Desulfosarcina group (class Deltaproteobacteria, sulfate reducing bacterial clade), phylum Planctomycetes, phylum Bacteroidetes (Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides), class Gammaproteobacteria, sulfur-oxidizing and related bacteria (a subset of class Gammaproteobacteria) and Eukaryota. 5. PHYLOGENETIC DATA 16S rRNA gene sequence data are indicated including aligned datasets for three clone libraries derived from the Mertz Glacier Polynya including GenBank accession numbers. Sequence accession numbers are provided for Vestfold Hills lake sediment samples. In addition GenBank numbers are provided for denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis band sequence data from Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediment. Other forms of this DGGE data (banding profile analysis) are available in reference Bowman et al. 2003 (AAD ref 10971).