In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert of northern Chile is one of the driest regions on Earth, with areas that exclude plants and where soils have extremely low microbial biomass. However, in the driest parts of the desert there are microorganisms that colonize the interior of halite nodules in fossil continental evap...

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Main Authors:	Davila, Alfonso F., Hawes, Ian, Araya, Jonathan G., Gelsinger, Diego R., DiRuggiero, Jocelyne, Ascaso, Carmen, Osano, Anne, Wierzchos, Jacek
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594028/

id	pubmed-4594028
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-45940282015-10-23 In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert Davila, Alfonso F. Hawes, Ian Araya, Jonathan G. Gelsinger, Diego R. DiRuggiero, Jocelyne Ascaso, Carmen Osano, Anne Wierzchos, Jacek Microbiology The Atacama Desert of northern Chile is one of the driest regions on Earth, with areas that exclude plants and where soils have extremely low microbial biomass. However, in the driest parts of the desert there are microorganisms that colonize the interior of halite nodules in fossil continental evaporites, where they are sustained by condensation of atmospheric water triggered by the salt substrate. Using a combination of in situ observations of variable chlorophyll fluorescence and controlled laboratory experiments, we show that this endolithic community is capable of carbon fixation both through oxygenic photosynthesis and potentially ammonia oxidation. We also present evidence that photosynthetic activity is finely tuned to moisture availability and solar insolation and can be sustained for days, and perhaps longer, after a wetting event. This is the first demonstration of in situ active metabolism in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, and it provides the basis for proposing a self-contained, endolithic community that relies exclusively on non-rainfall sources of water. Our results contribute to an increasing body of evidence that even in hyperarid environments active metabolism, adaptation, and growth can occur in highly specialized microhabitats. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-10-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4594028/ /pubmed/26500612 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01035 Text en Copyright © 2015 Davila, Hawes, Araya, Gelsinger, DiRuggiero, Ascaso, Osano and Wierzchos. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Davila, Alfonso F. Hawes, Ian Araya, Jonathan G. Gelsinger, Diego R. DiRuggiero, Jocelyne Ascaso, Carmen Osano, Anne Wierzchos, Jacek
spellingShingle	Davila, Alfonso F. Hawes, Ian Araya, Jonathan G. Gelsinger, Diego R. DiRuggiero, Jocelyne Ascaso, Carmen Osano, Anne Wierzchos, Jacek In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert
author_facet	Davila, Alfonso F. Hawes, Ian Araya, Jonathan G. Gelsinger, Diego R. DiRuggiero, Jocelyne Ascaso, Carmen Osano, Anne Wierzchos, Jacek
author_sort	Davila, Alfonso F.
title	In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert
title_short	In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert
title_full	In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert
title_fullStr	In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert
title_full_unstemmed	In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert
title_sort	in situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid atacama desert
description	The Atacama Desert of northern Chile is one of the driest regions on Earth, with areas that exclude plants and where soils have extremely low microbial biomass. However, in the driest parts of the desert there are microorganisms that colonize the interior of halite nodules in fossil continental evaporites, where they are sustained by condensation of atmospheric water triggered by the salt substrate. Using a combination of in situ observations of variable chlorophyll fluorescence and controlled laboratory experiments, we show that this endolithic community is capable of carbon fixation both through oxygenic photosynthesis and potentially ammonia oxidation. We also present evidence that photosynthetic activity is finely tuned to moisture availability and solar insolation and can be sustained for days, and perhaps longer, after a wetting event. This is the first demonstration of in situ active metabolism in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, and it provides the basis for proposing a self-contained, endolithic community that relies exclusively on non-rainfall sources of water. Our results contribute to an increasing body of evidence that even in hyperarid environments active metabolism, adaptation, and growth can occur in highly specialized microhabitats.
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594028/
_version_	1613483714104262656

In situ metabolism in halite endolithic microbial communities of the hyperarid Atacama Desert

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