Great Salt Lake halophilic microorganisms as models for astrobiology: evidence for desiccation tolerance and ultraviolet irradiation resistance

Baxter, Bonnie K.; Eddington, Breanne; Riddle, Misty R.; Webster, Tabitha Nicole; Avery, Brian J.

doi:10.1117/12.732621

Cited by 13 publications

(26 citation statements)

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“…This author began working in Utah in 1998, and recent microbiology studies on GSL were scant or non-existent. I met with Fred Post, then retired, with my notion of collecting GSL halophilic archaea to use as DNA repair models (Baxter et al 2007 ; Jones and Baxter 2016 , 2017 ). Post sent me to the lake to find my model microorganisms as his were destroyed, after he retired, in a freezer-cleaning incident, which he reported with much sadness.…”

Section: Microbiology Of Great Salt Lakementioning

confidence: 99%

Great Salt Lake microbiology: a historical perspective

Baxter

2018

Int Microbiol

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Over geologic time, the water in the Bonneville basin has risen and fallen, most dramatically as freshwater Lake Bonneville lost enormous volume 15,000–13,000 years ago and became the modern day Great Salt Lake. It is likely that paleo-humans lived along the shores of this body of water as it shrunk to the present margins, and native peoples inhabited the surrounding desert and wetlands in recent times. Nineteenth century Euro-American explorers and pioneers described the geology, geography, and flora and fauna of Great Salt Lake, but their work attracted white settlers to Utah, who changed the lake immeasurably. Human intervention in the 1950s created two large sub-ecosystems, bisected by a railroad causeway. The north arm approaches ten times the salinity of sea water, while the south arm salinity is a meager four times that of the oceans. Great Salt Lake was historically referred to as sterile, leading to the nickname “America’s Dead Sea.” However, the salty brine is teaming with life, even in the hypersaline north arm. In fact, scientists have known that this lake contains a diversity of microscopic lifeforms for more than 100 years. This essay will explore the stories of the people who observed and researched the salty microbiology of Great Salt Lake, whose discoveries demonstrated the presence of bacteria, archaea, algae, and protozoa that thrive in this lake. These scientists documented the lake’s microbiology as the lake changed, with input from human waste and the creation of impounded areas. Modern work on the microbiology of Great Salt Lake has added molecular approaches and illuminated the community structures in various regions, and fungi and viruses have now been described. The exploration of Great Salt Lake by scientists describing these tiny inhabitants of the brine illuminate the larger terminal lake with its many facets, anthropomorphic challenges, and ever-changing shorelines.

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Section: Microbiology Of Great Salt Lakementioning

confidence: 99%

Great Salt Lake microbiology: a historical perspective

Baxter

2018

Int Microbiol

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“…One key to their ability to persist in extreme conditions is that haloarchaea are polyextremophiles, tolerating not only salinity, but also desiccation and high levels of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation [25]. Indeed, haloarchaea have a suite of genetic capacities that include the ability to survive high osmotic stress [26,27] as well as robust DNA repair and photoprotection mechanisms [25,[28][29][30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two genera, Halorubrum and Haloarcula, are overrepresented in culture studies [32,33] and each has a significant number of species [4,31]. Halorubrum [34] has 25 species known at this time [31] and a wide distribution around the globe in modern and ancient salt deposits or hypersaline aquatic environments [1,3,17,28,[35][36][37][38]. Halorubrum is considered the most highly represented archaeal genus in many salterns after Haloquadratum [39].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These GSL haloarchaea remain relatively stable over time. In addition, they survive the fluctuation of temperature and salinity in GSL [45], desiccation inside halite crystals [28], and even desiccation in brine shrimp cysts [46]. A GSL Haloarcula strain was shown to adjust gene expression in response to stress [45], and a GSL Halorubrum strain was shown to be highly resistant to desiccation and UV light [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, birds can also act as mechanical carriers, where the feathers of the animal serve to transport the microorganism [60,62,63]. Fungal spores, notorious for tolerating desiccation, were applied to feathers and found to survive for hours [63] or days [62], which are small time-frames compared to GSL microorganisms [28]. Map of Great Salt Lake depicting the location of the north arm sampling sites: the American White Pelican breeding colony on Gunnison Island (left, blue) and the location of Rozel Bay where halite was collected (right red).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Biogeography of Great Salt Lake Halophilic Archaea: Testing the Hypothesis of Avian Mechanical Carriers

et al. 2018

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Halophilic archaea inhabit hypersaline ecosystems globally, and genetically similar strains have been found in locales that are geographically isolated from one another. We sought to test the hypothesis that small salt crystals harboring halophilic archaea could be carried on bird feathers and that bird migration is a driving force of these distributions. In this study, we discovered that the American White Pelicans (AWPE) at Great Salt Lake soak in the hypersaline brine and accumulate salt crystals (halite) on their feathers. We cultured halophilic archaea from AWPE feathers and halite crystals. The microorganisms isolated from the lakeshore crystals were restricted to two genera: Halorubrum and Haloarcula, however, archaea from the feathers were strictly Haloarcula. We compared partial DNA sequence of the 16S rRNA gene from our cultivars with that of similar strains in the GenBank database. To understand the biogeography of genetically similar halophilic archaea, we studied the geographical locations of the sampling sites of the closest-matched species. An analysis of the environmental factors of each site pointed to salinity as the most important factor for selection. The geography of the sites was consistent with the location of the sub-tropical jet stream where birds typically migrate, supporting the avian dispersal hypothesis.

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When We Were Triangles

Gordon¹

2023

Conflicting Models for the Origin of Life

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Great Salt Lake halophilic microorganisms as models for astrobiology: evidence for desiccation tolerance and ultraviolet irradiation resistance

Cited by 13 publications

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Great Salt Lake microbiology: a historical perspective

Great Salt Lake microbiology: a historical perspective

The Biogeography of Great Salt Lake Halophilic Archaea: Testing the Hypothesis of Avian Mechanical Carriers

When We Were Triangles

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