We will collect stool samples from the volunteers at the Mario Zucchelli Station at different time points. The samples will be analysed by shotgun metagenomic sequencing, considering only the microbial component.

The Italian Collection of Antarctic Bacteria (CIBAN) was established in 1989 at the Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences of the University of Messina. CIBAN is one of the few collections in the world dedicated to Antarctic bacteria and, since its inception, it has grown to include 515 cold-adapted strains belonging to 69 Genera. Bacteria were extracted from seawater, sediment, and benthic organisms, mainly from the Terra Nova Bay marine area in East Antarctica. CIBAN also hosts bacterial isolates from the continent. Quality control: Strains are routinely streaked on agar plates every six months to control purity and viability. Method steps: All cultures are maintained in duplicate on agar slants at 4 °C. Antarctic strains are also preserved by freezing cell suspensions at – 80 °C in liquid broth to which 20% glycerol is added.

The ANT-Biofilm research project (PNRA16_00105) concerned the study of microbial colonization processes in coastal environments of Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea), through the analysis of the microbial biofilm (bacteria, microalgae) and macrobenthic settlement on plastic substrates, with the aim of determining their possible variations caused by natural or anthropogenic disturbances (variations in salinity or the presence of contaminants, respectively). Microbial biofilms, which play a key role as a substrate for larval settlement of many species of invertebrates, constitute hot-spots of microbial diversity; and it is also known that the communities a microbial are capable of responding rapidly to changing environmental conditions, acting as potential "sentinels" of natural or anthropic perturbations that recently are threatening the Antarctic biota. During the first year of activity (XXXIII Italian expedition, November 2017) stainless steel structures were fixed on the seabed of Road Bay and Tethys Bay mounting panels of artificial substrates (Polyvinyl Chloride, PVC and PolyEthylene, PE) for colonization, which during the XXXIV expedition (November 2018) were retrieved in order to study the fouling formation processes at different levels of biological complexity (from microbial community including bacteria and microalgae to benthic invertebrates) and to evaluate their evolution in two coastal sites differently exposed to natural or anthropogenic forcings.

We will collect oral samples from the volunteers at the Mario Zucchelli Station at different time points, using safe and not harmfull kits. Samples will be analysed by shotgun metagenomic sequencing, considering only the microbial component.

We will collect skin samples from the volunteers at the Mario Zucchelli Station at different time points, using safe and not harmfull kits. Samples will be analysed by shotgun metagenomic sequencing, considering only the microbial component.