Comparative metagenomic analysis reveals mechanisms for stress response in hypoliths from extreme hyperarid deserts

Understanding microbial adaptation to environmental stressors is crucial for interpreting broader ecological patterns. In the most extreme hot and cold deserts, cryptic niche communities are thought to play key roles in ecosystem processes and represent excellent model systems for investigating micr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genome Biology and Evolution
Main Authors: Thi Le, Phuong, Makhalanyane, Thulani P., Guerrero, Leandro D., Vikram, Surendra, Van de Peer, Yves, Cowan, Don A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2016
Subjects:
Stress response
Deserts
Comparative metagenomics
Antarctica
Namib Desert
Hypoliths
Soils
Biomes
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Miers
Miers Valley
Antarc*
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2263/57076
https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evw189
Description
Summary:Understanding microbial adaptation to environmental stressors is crucial for interpreting broader ecological patterns. In the most extreme hot and cold deserts, cryptic niche communities are thought to play key roles in ecosystem processes and represent excellent model systems for investigating microbial responses to environmental stressors. However, relatively little is known about the genetic diversity underlying such functional processes in climatically extreme desert systems. This study presents the first comparative metagenome analysis of cyanobacteria-dominated hypolithic communities in hot (Namib Desert, Namibia) and cold (Miers Valley, Antarctica) hyperarid deserts. The most abundant phyla in both hypolith metagenomes were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Bacteroidetes with Cyanobacteria dominating in Antarctic hypoliths. However, no significant differences between the twometagenomeswere identified. The Antarctic hypolithicmetagenome displayed a high number of sequences assigned to sigma factors, replication,recombination andrepair, translation, ribosomal structure,andbiogenesis. In contrast, theNamibDesert metagenome showed a high abundance of sequences assigned to carbohydrate transport and metabolism. Metagenome data analysis also revealed significantdivergence inthe geneticdeterminantsof aminoacidandnucleotidemetabolismbetween these two metagenomes and those of soil from other polar deserts, hot deserts, and non-desert soils. Our results suggest extensive niche differentiation in hypolithic microbial communities from these two extreme environments and a high genetic capacity for survival under environmental extremes. The authors gratefully acknowledge the following organizations: The University of Pretoria Genomics Research Institute (PTL, TPM, DAC, and YVdP), South African National Antarctic Program (SANAP) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) for funding (LG, SV). http://gbe.oxfordjournals.org am2016 Genetics

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