Colonization patterns of soil microbial communities in the Atacama Desert

Crits-Christoph, Alexander; Robinson, Courtney K.; Barnum, Tyler P.; Fricke, W. Florian; Dávila, Alfonso F.; Jedynak, Bruno; McKay, Christopher P.; DiRuggiero, Jocelyne

doi:10.1186/2049-2618-1-28

Cited by 189 publications

(178 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

155

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Gammaproteobacteria was found in moderately high abundance in whales (33.9%) and 50% in salamanders, and was shared in varying amounts amongst all the wild vertebrates sampled. One class, Thermoleophilia, is only found on bats and dogs, suggesting a relationship to terrestrial mammals, however it is a known soil organism (Suzuki and Whitman, 2012; Crits-Christoph et al, 2013). For all of the vertebrates examined for this study, 7.6%–49.4% of bacteria were not in the most abundant taxa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconstructing the Bat Skin Microbiome: Influences of the Host and the Environment

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bats are geographically widespread and play an important role in many ecosystems, but relatively little is known about the ecology of their associated microbial communities and the role microbial taxa play in bat health, development, and evolution. Moreover, few vertebrate animal skin microbiomes have been comprehensively assessed, and thus characterizing the bat skin microbiome will yield valuable insight into the variability of vertebrate skin microbiomes as a whole. The recent emergence of the skin fungal disease white-nose syndrome highlights the potentially important role bat skin microbial communities could play in bat health. Understanding the determinant of bat skin microbial communities could provide insight into important factors allowing individuals to persist with disease. We collected skin swabs from a total of 11 bat species from the eastern United States (n = 45) and Colorado (n = 119), as well as environmental samples (n = 38) from a subset of sites, and used 16S rRNA marker gene sequencing to observe bacterial communities. In addition, we conducted a literature survey to compare the skin microbiome across vertebrate groups, including the bats presented in this study. Host species, region, and site were all significant predictors of the variability across bat skin bacterial communities. Many bacterial taxa were found both on bats and in the environment. However, some bacterial taxa had consistently greater relative abundances on bat skin relative to their environments. Bats shared many of their abundant taxa with other vertebrates, but also hosted unique bacterial lineages such as the class Thermoleophilia (Actinobacteria). A strong effect of site on the bat skin microbiome indicates that the environment very strongly influences what bacteria are present on bat skin. Bat skin microbiomes are largely composed of site-specific microbiota, but there do appear to be important host-specific taxa. How this translates to differences in host-microbial interactions and bat health remains an important knowledge gap, but this work suggests that habitat variability is very important. We identify some bacterial groups that are more consistent on bats despite site differences, and these may be important ones to study in terms of their function as potential core microbiome members.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconstructing the Bat Skin Microbiome: Influences of the Host and the Environment

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…4 Some regions in the desert were once thought to have 'Mars-like' soils deemed too extreme for life to exist given high levels of UV radiation, the presence of inorganic oxidants, areas of high salinity and very low concentrations of organic carbon. 5 However, recent research has revealed extraordinary bacterial diversity across a range of Atacama environments, 6,7 and many novel actinomycetes have been isolated from hyper-and extreme hyper-arid soils. 8,9 Biological and genome-guided screening of some of these actinomycetes has led to the isolation and characterization of new natural products belonging to diverse structural classes and exhibiting various biological activities, as exemplified by the antimicrobial chaxamycins and chaxalactins isolated from Streptomyces leeuwenhoekii C34 T , the abenquines from Streptomyces sp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation and anti-HIV-1 integrase activity of lentzeosides A–F from extremotolerant lentzea sp. H45, a strain isolated from a high-altitude Atacama Desert soil

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The extremotolerant isolate H45 was one of several actinomycetes isolated from a high-altitude Atacama Desert soil collected in northwest Chile. The isolate was identified as a new Lentzea sp. using a combination of chemotaxonomic, morphological and phylogenetic properties. Large scale fermentation of the strain in two different media followed by chromatographic purification led to the isolation of six new diene and monoene glycosides named lentzeosides A-F, together with the known compound (Z)-3-hexenyl glucoside. The structures of the new compounds were confirmed by HRESIMS and NMR analyses. Compounds 1-6 displayed moderate inhibitory activity against HIV integrase.

show abstract

“…Bacterial diversity of rhizosphere soils from Atacama Desert differed from those of the other studied rhizosphere soils. The low bacterial diversity of rhizosphere soil from Atacama Desert may depend on vegetative state of bacterial cells (Crits-Christoph et al 2013) and/or water availability, salt, and nutrient content of these soils Vítek et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial alkaline phosphomonoesterase in the rhizospheres of plants grown in Chilean extreme environments

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bacterial alkaline phosphomonoesterases (APases) are relevant for organic phosphorus (Po) recycling in many soils. However, the abundance and diversity of bacterial APase in the rhizospheres of native plants are poorly known, particularly in extreme environments. In this research work, we studied the composition of total and APase-harboring bacterial communities, abundances of selected APase genes (phoD and phoX), and APase activities in rhizosphere soils from native plants grown in extreme environments of northern (Atacama Desert), central (Andes volcano; Quetrupillan and Mamuil Malal) and hot spring (Liquiñe), and southern polar (Patagonia and Antarctic) regions of Chile. Differences in the composition of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere soils were revealed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), phoD, and phoX genes. In general, the significant lowest bacterial diversities, APase gene abundances, and APase activities were observed in rhizosphere soils from Atacama Desert, whereas the highest values were observed in rhizosphere soils of Patagonia. In addition, APase gene abundances were positively correlated among them and with APase activity of rhizosphere soils, but negatively correlated with phosphorus (P) availability in rhizosphere soils. Although bacterial APases were observed in all studied rhizosphere soils, their relevance to soil Po recycling in soils of extreme environments remains unclear and further studies are needed.

show abstract

Colonization patterns of soil microbial communities in the Atacama Desert

Cited by 189 publications

References 64 publications

Deconstructing the Bat Skin Microbiome: Influences of the Host and the Environment

Deconstructing the Bat Skin Microbiome: Influences of the Host and the Environment

Isolation and anti-HIV-1 integrase activity of lentzeosides A–F from extremotolerant lentzea sp. H45, a strain isolated from a high-altitude Atacama Desert soil

Bacterial alkaline phosphomonoesterase in the rhizospheres of plants grown in Chilean extreme environments

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About