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The diversity and abundance of chytrids on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Abstract

Zoosporic fungi of the Chytridiomycota phylum are lethal parasites of algae in Arctic freshwater and marine environments. The presence of members of the Chytridiomycota phylum has also been confirmed by amplicon sequencing and microscopy in various habitats on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Glacier ice algae of the genus Ancylonema (Zygnematophyceae, Streptophyta) dominate microbial communities on the margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet and play key roles in darkening and melting of surface ice. Recent studies and in-situ observations have identified undescribed chytrids infecting Ancylonema spp. blooms on the Greenland Ice Sheet1. In this study, the diversity and abundance of Chytridiomycota fungi were assessed by collection of ice surface and cryoconite holes samples from several locations on the ice sheet. We provide the first quantitative assessment, using qPCR, to reveal that uncultured chytridiomycetous fungi on dark ice were one order of magnitude higher than in cryoconites throughout the 2022 melt season on the Central-West margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Phylogenetic trees, based on the assembled environmental 18S rRNA genes, highlight that surface ice habitats dominated by glacier ice algae or snow algae harbor a great diversity of fungi belonging to the Blastocladiomycota, Monoblepharidomycota and Chytridiomycota phyla. They appear to be potential novel taxa, based on small subunit (18S) rRNA gene sequence similarity analysis, increasing our knowledge of chytrids diversity in Arctic environments. The number of novel lineages distinguished from described taxa varied from 63 to 81, based on two sequence identity thresholds (> 97% and > 98%), respectively. Overall, this study addresses the lack of quantitative and phylogenetically resolved information on chytrids in supraglacial environments by providing the first assessment of their abundance and diversity across the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Data availability

The 2019–2020 dataset can be accessed through NCBI under PRJNA1011216. The 2021 dataset can be accessed through NCBI under PRJNA1011216. The 2022 dataset can be accessed through NCBI under PRJNA1160058. The relevant 2023 datasets as well as additional sequences, alignment, and tree files are available and can be accessed through Zenodo (v1.1) with the DOI [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16810413](https:/doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16810413). Supplementary information, qPCR data and tables are available and can be accessed through Zenodo (v1.1) with the DOI [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16810413](https:/doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16810413).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the scientific field teams for their support in 2022 and 2023 (Katie Sipes, Helen Feord, Ate H. Jaarsma, Beatriz Gill Olivas, Christoph Keuschnig and Thomas Turpin-Jelfs).

Funding

This study was financially supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant DEEP PURPLE under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (Grant Number 856416) awarded to Alexandre M. Anesio, Liane G. Benning, and Martyn Tranter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, 4000, Denmark

    Laura Perini, Athanasios Zervas, Louise Feld, Carsten S. Jacobsen, Martyn Tranter & Alexandre M. Anesio

  2. GFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, 14473, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany

    Liane G. Benning

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, 12249, Berlin, Germany

    Liane G. Benning

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  1. Laura Perini
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  2. Athanasios Zervas
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  3. Louise Feld
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  4. Carsten S. Jacobsen
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  6. Martyn Tranter
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  7. Alexandre M. Anesio
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Contributions

Laura Perini and Alexandre M. Anesio conceived and designed the study. Laura Perini performed the data analysis and interpretation of the results, with support from Athanasios Zervas. Louise Feld performed the qPCRs. Laura Perini drafted the manuscript, with support from Athanasios Zervas. Louise Feld, Carsten S. Jacobsen, Liane G. Benning, Martyn Tranter, and Alexandre M. Anesio reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Alexandre M. Anesio.

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Perini, L., Zervas, A., Feld, L. et al. The diversity and abundance of chytrids on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41468-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41468-5

Keywords

  • Chytridiomycota
  • Glacier ice algae
  • Greenland Ice Sheet
  • Fungal diversity
  • Potential novel taxa
  • Chytrids radiation

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