Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars
Life can persist under severe osmotic stress and low water activity in hypersaline environments. On Mars, evidence for the past presence of saline bodies of water is prevalent and resulted in the widespread deposition of sulfate and chloride salts. Here we investigate Spotted Lake (British Columbia,...
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ftmit:oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/114037 2023-06-11T04:06:26+02:00 Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars Walker, Virginia K. Hepburn, Holli Ruvkun, Gary Pontefract, Alexandra Janine Zhu, Ting Lui, Clarissa Shiao-Jia Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Pontefract, Alexandra Janine Zhu, Ting Lui, Clarissa Shiao-Jia Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E 2018-02-16T19:33:39Z application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114037 unknown Frontiers Research Foundation http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01819 Frontiers in Microbiology 1664-302X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114037 Pontefract, Alexandra et al. “Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars.” Frontiers in Microbiology 8 (September 2017): 1819 © 2017 The Authors orcid:0000-0003-2652-8017 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2018 ftmit https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01819 2023-05-29T08:46:21Z Life can persist under severe osmotic stress and low water activity in hypersaline environments. On Mars, evidence for the past presence of saline bodies of water is prevalent and resulted in the widespread deposition of sulfate and chloride salts. Here we investigate Spotted Lake (British Columbia, Canada), a hypersaline lake with extreme ( > 3 M) levels of sulfate salts as an exemplar of the conditions thought to be associated with ancient Mars. We provide the first characterization of microbial structure in Spotted Lake sediments through metagenomic sequencing, and report a bacteria-dominated community with abundant Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes, as well as diverse extremophiles. Microbial abundance and functional comparisons reveal similarities to Ace Lake, a meromictic Antarctic lake with anoxic and sulfidic bottom waters. Our analysis suggests that hypersaline-associated species occupy niches characterized foremost by differential abundance of Archaea, uncharacterized Bacteria, and Cyanobacteria. Potential biosignatures in this environment are discussed, specifically the likelihood of a strong sulfur isotopic fractionation record within the sediments due to the presence of sulfate reducing bacteria. With its high sulfate levels and seasonal freeze-thaw cycles, Spotted Lake is an analog for ancient paleolakes on Mars in which sulfate salt deposits may have offered periodically habitable environments, and could have concentrated and preserved organic materials or their biomarkers over geologic time. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Award NNX08AX15G) United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Award NNX15AF85G) Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Antarctic Canada British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Ace Lake ENVELOPE(78.188,78.188,-68.472,-68.472) Frontiers in Microbiology 8 |
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Life can persist under severe osmotic stress and low water activity in hypersaline environments. On Mars, evidence for the past presence of saline bodies of water is prevalent and resulted in the widespread deposition of sulfate and chloride salts. Here we investigate Spotted Lake (British Columbia, Canada), a hypersaline lake with extreme ( > 3 M) levels of sulfate salts as an exemplar of the conditions thought to be associated with ancient Mars. We provide the first characterization of microbial structure in Spotted Lake sediments through metagenomic sequencing, and report a bacteria-dominated community with abundant Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes, as well as diverse extremophiles. Microbial abundance and functional comparisons reveal similarities to Ace Lake, a meromictic Antarctic lake with anoxic and sulfidic bottom waters. Our analysis suggests that hypersaline-associated species occupy niches characterized foremost by differential abundance of Archaea, uncharacterized Bacteria, and Cyanobacteria. Potential biosignatures in this environment are discussed, specifically the likelihood of a strong sulfur isotopic fractionation record within the sediments due to the presence of sulfate reducing bacteria. With its high sulfate levels and seasonal freeze-thaw cycles, Spotted Lake is an analog for ancient paleolakes on Mars in which sulfate salt deposits may have offered periodically habitable environments, and could have concentrated and preserved organic materials or their biomarkers over geologic time. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Award NNX08AX15G) United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Award NNX15AF85G) |
author2 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Pontefract, Alexandra Janine Zhu, Ting Lui, Clarissa Shiao-Jia Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Walker, Virginia K. Hepburn, Holli Ruvkun, Gary Pontefract, Alexandra Janine Zhu, Ting Lui, Clarissa Shiao-Jia Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E |
spellingShingle |
Walker, Virginia K. Hepburn, Holli Ruvkun, Gary Pontefract, Alexandra Janine Zhu, Ting Lui, Clarissa Shiao-Jia Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars |
author_facet |
Walker, Virginia K. Hepburn, Holli Ruvkun, Gary Pontefract, Alexandra Janine Zhu, Ting Lui, Clarissa Shiao-Jia Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E |
author_sort |
Walker, Virginia K. |
title |
Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars |
title_short |
Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars |
title_full |
Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars |
title_fullStr |
Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars |
title_sort |
microbial diversity in a hypersaline sulfate lake: a terrestrial analog of ancient mars |
publisher |
Frontiers Research Foundation |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114037 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) ENVELOPE(78.188,78.188,-68.472,-68.472) |
geographic |
Antarctic Canada British Columbia Ace Lake |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Canada British Columbia Ace Lake |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
Frontiers |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01819 Frontiers in Microbiology 1664-302X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114037 Pontefract, Alexandra et al. “Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars.” Frontiers in Microbiology 8 (September 2017): 1819 © 2017 The Authors orcid:0000-0003-2652-8017 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01819 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
8 |
_version_ |
1768378413303726080 |