Schulze-Makuch, D.* ; Lipus, D.* ; Arens, F.L.* ; Baqué, M.* ; Bornemann, T.L.V.* ; Devere, J.P.* ; Flury, M.* ; Frösler, J.* ; Heinz, J.* ; Hwang, Y.* ; Kounaves, S.P.* ; Mangelsdorf, K.* ; Meckenstock, R.U.* ; Pannekens, M.* ; Probst, A.J.* ; Sáenz, J.S. ; Schirmack, J.* ; Schloter, M. ; Schmitt-Kopplin, P. ; Schneider, B.* ; Uhl, J. ; Vestergaard, G.* ; Valenzuela, B.* ; Zamorano, P.* ; Wagner, D.*
Microbial hotspots in lithic microhabitats inferred from dna fractionation and metagenomics in the atacama desert.
Microorganisms 9:1038 (2021)
The existence of microbial activity hotspots in temperate regions of Earth is driven by soil heterogeneities, especially the temporal and spatial availability of nutrients. Here we investigate whether microbial activity hotspots also exist in lithic microhabitats in one of the most arid regions of the world, the Atacama Desert in Chile. While previous studies evaluated the total DNA fraction to elucidate the microbial communities, we here for the first time use a DNA separation approach on lithic microhabitats, together with metagenomics and other analysis methods (i.e., ATP, PLFA, and metabolite analysis) to specifically gain insights on the living and potentially active microbial community. Our results show that hypolith colonized rocks are microbial hotspots in the desert environment. In contrast, our data do not support such a conclusion for gypsum crust and salt rock environments, because only limited microbial activity could be observed. The hypolith community is dominated by phototrophs, mostly Cyanobacteria and Chloroflexi, at both study sites. The gypsum crusts are dominated by methylotrophs and heterotrophic phototrophs, mostly Chloroflexi, and the salt rocks (halite nodules) by phototrophic and halotolerant endoliths, mostly Cyanobacteria and Archaea. The major environmental constraints in the organic-poor arid and hyperarid Atacama Desert are water availability and UV irradiation, allowing phototrophs and other extremophiles to play a key role in desert ecology.
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Publikationstyp
Artikel: Journalartikel
Dokumenttyp
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
Typ der Hochschulschrift
Herausgeber
Schlagwörter
Desert Ecology ; Endolith ; Extremophile ; Habitat ; Hyperarid ; Hypolith; Hyper-arid Zone; Extracellular Dna; Hot Moments; Community Structure; Rapid Method; Fatty-acids; Sp-nov.; Photosynthesis; Colonization; Extraction
Keywords plus
Sprache
englisch
Veröffentlichungsjahr
2021
Prepublished im Jahr
HGF-Berichtsjahr
2021
ISSN (print) / ISBN
2076-2607
e-ISSN
2076-2607
ISBN
Bandtitel
Konferenztitel
Konferzenzdatum
Konferenzort
Konferenzband
Quellenangaben
Band: 9,
Heft: 5,
Seiten: ,
Artikelnummer: 1038
Supplement: ,
Reihe
Verlag
MDPI
Verlagsort
Basel
Tag d. mündl. Prüfung
0000-00-00
Betreuer
Gutachter
Prüfer
Topic
Hochschule
Hochschulort
Fakultät
Veröffentlichungsdatum
0000-00-00
Anmeldedatum
0000-00-00
Anmelder/Inhaber
weitere Inhaber
Anmeldeland
Priorität
Begutachtungsstatus
Peer reviewed
POF Topic(s)
30202 - Environmental Health
Forschungsfeld(er)
Environmental Sciences
PSP-Element(e)
G-504700-001
G-504800-001
Förderungen
Helmholtz Research Program "Geosystem-The Changing Earth"
European Research Council
Ministerium fur Kultur undWissenschaft of the state Nordrhein-Westfalen
European Research Council Advanced Grant Habitability of Martian Environments
Copyright
Erfassungsdatum
2021-06-23