Bashir, Alexandra Kristin and Wink, Lisa and Duller, Stefanie and Schwendner, Petra and Cockell, Charles and Rettberg, Petra and Mahnert, Alexander and Beblo-Vranesevic, Kristina and Bohmeier, Maria and Rabbow, Elke and Gaboyer, Frederic and Westall, Frances and Walter, Nicolas and Cabezas, Patricia and Garcia-Descalzo, Laura and Gomez, Felipe and Malki, Mustapha and Amils, Ricardo and Ehrenfreund, Pascale and Monaghan, Euan and Vannier, Pauline and Marteinsson, Viggo and Erlacher, Armin and Tanski, George and Strauss, Jens and Bashir, Mina and Riedo, Andreas and Moissl-Eichinger, Christine (2021) Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites. MICROBIOME, 9 (1): 50. ISSN 2049-2618
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Background: Extreme terrestrial, analogue environments are widely used models to study the limits of life and to infer habitability of extraterrestrial settings. In contrast to Earth's ecosystems, potential extraterrestrial biotopes are usually characterized by a lack of oxygen. Methods: In the MASE project (Mars Analogues for Space Exploration), we selected representative anoxic analogue environments (permafrost, salt-mine, acidic lake and river, sulfur springs) for the comprehensive analysis of their microbial communities. We assessed the microbiome profile of intact cells by propidium monoazide-based amplicon and shotgun metagenome sequencing, supplemented with an extensive cultivation effort. Results: The information retrieved from microbiome analyses on the intact microbial community thriving in the MASE sites, together with the isolation of 31 model microorganisms and successful binning of 15 high-quality genomes allowed us to observe principle pathways, which pinpoint specific microbial functions in the MASE sites compared to moderate environments. The microorganisms were characterized by an impressive machinery to withstand physical and chemical pressures. All levels of our analyses revealed the strong and omnipresent dependency of the microbial communities on complex organic matter. Moreover, we identified an extremotolerant cosmopolitan group of 34 poly-extremophiles thriving in all sites. Conclusions: Our results reveal the presence of a core microbiome and microbial taxonomic similarities between saline and acidic anoxic environments. Our work further emphasizes the importance of the environmental, terrestrial parameters for the functionality of a microbial community, but also reveals a high proportion of living microorganisms in extreme environments with a high adaptation potential within habitability borders.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | PROPIDIUM MONOAZIDE; ARCHAEAL PHYLUM; READ ALIGNMENT; PERMAFROST; LIFE; MARS; METHANOGENS; QUALITY; GROWTH; Extreme environments; Microbiomes; Archaea; Bacteria; Propidium monoazide; Astrobiology; Space-analogue; Extremophiles; Extraterrestrial life; Metagenomics |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 520 Astronomy & allied sciences 500 Science > 570 Life sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie > Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie (Archaeenzentrum) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Sep 2022 05:49 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Sep 2022 05:49 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/47503 |
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