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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)

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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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Publication type Article: Journal article

Document type Scientific Article

Corresponding Author

Keywords 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

ISSN (print) / ISBN 2076-2607

e-ISSN 2076-2607

Journal Microorganisms

Quellenangaben Volume: 9, Issue: 5, Article Number: 1038

Publisher MDPI

Publishing Place Basel

Non-patent literature Publications

Reviewing status Peer reviewed

Institute(s) Research Unit Comparative Microbiome Analysis (COMI)
Research Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry (BGC)
Helmholtz AI - DLR (HAI - DLR)

Grants
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