Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites
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 t...
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2021
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crspringernat:10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5 2023-05-15T17:58:04+02:00 Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites Bashir, Alexandra Kristin Wink, Lisa Duller, Stefanie Schwendner, Petra Cockell, Charles Rettberg, Petra Mahnert, Alexander Beblo-Vranesevic, Kristina Bohmeier, Maria Rabbow, Elke Gaboyer, Frederic Westall, Frances Walter, Nicolas Cabezas, Patricia Garcia-Descalzo, Laura Gomez, Felipe Malki, Mustapha Amils, Ricardo Ehrenfreund, Pascale Monaghan, Euan Vannier, Pauline Marteinsson, Viggo Erlacher, Armin Tanski, George Strauss, Jens Bashir, Mina Riedo, Andreas Moissl-Eichinger, Christine Seventh Framework Programme 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Microbiome volume 9, issue 1 ISSN 2049-2618 Microbiology (medical) Microbiology journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5 2022-01-04T14:39:33Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Springer Nature (via Crossref) Microbiome 9 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
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English |
topic |
Microbiology (medical) Microbiology |
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Microbiology (medical) Microbiology Bashir, Alexandra Kristin Wink, Lisa Duller, Stefanie Schwendner, Petra Cockell, Charles Rettberg, Petra Mahnert, Alexander Beblo-Vranesevic, Kristina Bohmeier, Maria Rabbow, Elke Gaboyer, Frederic Westall, Frances Walter, Nicolas Cabezas, Patricia Garcia-Descalzo, Laura Gomez, Felipe Malki, Mustapha Amils, Ricardo Ehrenfreund, Pascale Monaghan, Euan Vannier, Pauline Marteinsson, Viggo Erlacher, Armin Tanski, George Strauss, Jens Bashir, Mina Riedo, Andreas Moissl-Eichinger, Christine Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites |
topic_facet |
Microbiology (medical) Microbiology |
description |
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. |
author2 |
Seventh Framework Programme |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bashir, Alexandra Kristin Wink, Lisa Duller, Stefanie Schwendner, Petra Cockell, Charles Rettberg, Petra Mahnert, Alexander Beblo-Vranesevic, Kristina Bohmeier, Maria Rabbow, Elke Gaboyer, Frederic Westall, Frances Walter, Nicolas Cabezas, Patricia Garcia-Descalzo, Laura Gomez, Felipe Malki, Mustapha Amils, Ricardo Ehrenfreund, Pascale Monaghan, Euan Vannier, Pauline Marteinsson, Viggo Erlacher, Armin Tanski, George Strauss, Jens Bashir, Mina Riedo, Andreas Moissl-Eichinger, Christine |
author_facet |
Bashir, Alexandra Kristin Wink, Lisa Duller, Stefanie Schwendner, Petra Cockell, Charles Rettberg, Petra Mahnert, Alexander Beblo-Vranesevic, Kristina Bohmeier, Maria Rabbow, Elke Gaboyer, Frederic Westall, Frances Walter, Nicolas Cabezas, Patricia Garcia-Descalzo, Laura Gomez, Felipe Malki, Mustapha Amils, Ricardo Ehrenfreund, Pascale Monaghan, Euan Vannier, Pauline Marteinsson, Viggo Erlacher, Armin Tanski, George Strauss, Jens Bashir, Mina Riedo, Andreas Moissl-Eichinger, Christine |
author_sort |
Bashir, Alexandra Kristin |
title |
Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites |
title_short |
Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites |
title_full |
Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites |
title_fullStr |
Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites |
title_full_unstemmed |
Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites |
title_sort |
taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5/fulltext.html |
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permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
Microbiome volume 9, issue 1 ISSN 2049-2618 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00989-5 |
container_title |
Microbiome |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766166605298925568 |