Morphological analysis of aerobic microorganisms in deep-drilling core samples from Lake Baikal

Microorganisms of the Baikal Rift are of peculiar interest owing to their i solated evolution and the ancient origin of Lake Baikal. Samples of rocks s edimented at various stages of the Baikal Rift development have been obtain ed by drilling. Based on microbiological examination of bottom samples from the Baikal basin, a collection of more than 2200 microbial isolates was ma de. They include the genera Micrococcus, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, and Noca rdia; numerous nonsporogenous cocci and bacilli with well-pronounced capsul es; fast-moving Gramnegative rods, assigned to pseudomonads; sessile Gram-n egative cells, actinomycetes, and yeast. The eukaryotes of the ground sampl es also contain mold fungi. The morphological features were studied by light microscopy of colored micr obial cells and using scanning and transmission microscopes.