Discovery of Viable Methanotrophic Bacteria in Permafrost Sediments of Northeast Siberia

Permafrost regions occupy some two thirds of Rus-sia. It was found that fine-dispersion permafrost rocksare specific natural depositories of viable aerobic andanaerobic microbial communities [1, 2]. It should benoted that, the total count of microorganisms in perma-frost sediments is only one order of magnitude less thanin tundra soils. Moreover, there is evidence thatbecause of the presence of unfrozen water stronglybound to soil particles, the metabolic activity of cold-adapted microorganisms is maintained at a sufficientlyhigh level. For example, it was shown that metabolicactivity of some microorganisms is observed at subzerotemperatures as low as –17°e [3, 4]. The presence ofcarbon-containing gases, CH