Tests of water samples from Antarctica’s Lake Vostok have yielded a completely new class of bacteria, a Russian scientist has told reporters.

The frozen samples were brought up from under the Antarctic ice in May 2012.

Sergei Bulat of St. Petersburg’s Nuclear Physics Institute said they collected a core sample of water frozen into the borehole. He said the probe contained bacteria that didn’t belong to any known phyla, which is the next ranking above a class in size.

In May, the samples will be brought to the lab by the Akademik Feodorov icebreaker to confirm the discovery.

Voice of Russia, RIA

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_07/Unknown-class-of-bacteria-found-under-ice-crust-of-Antarctic-lake/