Prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at La Brava, a hypersaline lake at Salar de Atacama, Chile

Benthic microbial ecosystems of Laguna La Brava, Salar de Atacama, a high altitude hypersaline lake, were characterized in terms of bacterial and archaeal diversity, biogeochem-istry, (including O2 and sulfide depth profiles and mineralogy), and physicochemical characteristics. La Brava is one of se...

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Autores principales: Farías, María Eugenia, Rasuk, María Cecilia, Gallagher, Kimberley L., Contreras, Manuel, Kurth, Daniel, Fernández, Ana Beatriz, Poiré, Daniel Gustavo, Novoa, Fernando, Visscher, Pieter T.
Formato: Articulo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2017
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Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/87417
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id I19-R120-10915-87417
record_format dspace
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Ciencias Naturales
Ecosistemas
spellingShingle Ciencias Naturales
Ecosistemas
Farías, María Eugenia
Rasuk, María Cecilia
Gallagher, Kimberley L.
Contreras, Manuel
Kurth, Daniel
Fernández, Ana Beatriz
Poiré, Daniel Gustavo
Novoa, Fernando
Visscher, Pieter T.
Prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at La Brava, a hypersaline lake at Salar de Atacama, Chile
topic_facet Ciencias Naturales
Ecosistemas
description Benthic microbial ecosystems of Laguna La Brava, Salar de Atacama, a high altitude hypersaline lake, were characterized in terms of bacterial and archaeal diversity, biogeochem-istry, (including O2 and sulfide depth profiles and mineralogy), and physicochemical characteristics. La Brava is one of several lakes in the Salar de Atacama where microbial communities are growing in extreme conditions, including high salinity, high solar insolation, and high levels of metals such as lithium, arsenic, magnesium, and calcium. Evaporation creates hypersaline conditions in these lakes and mineral precipitation is a characteristic geomicrobiological feature of these benthic ecosystems. In this study, the La Brava non-lithifying microbial mats, microbialites, and rhizome-associated concretions were compared to each other and their diversity was related to their environmental conditions. All the ecosystems revealed an unusual community where Euryarchaeota, Crenarchaeota, Acetothermia, Firmicutes and Planctomycetes were the most abundant groups, and cyanobacteria, typically an important primary producer in microbial mats, were relatively insignificant or absent. This suggests that other microorganisms, and possibly novel pathways unique to this system, are responsible for carbon fixation. Depth profiles of O2 and sulfide showed active production and respiration. The mineralogy composition was calcium carbonate (as aragonite) and increased from mats to microbialites and rhizome-associated concretions. Halite was also present. Further analyses were performed on representative microbial mats and microbialites by layer. Different taxonomic compositions were observed in the upper layers, with Archaea dominating the non-lithifying mat, and Planctomycetes the microbialite. The bottom layers were similar, with Euryarchaeota, Crenarchaeota and Planctomycetes as dominant phyla. Sequences related to Cyanobacteria were very scarce. These systems may contain previously uncharacterized community metabolisms, some of which may be contributing to net mineral precipitation. Further work on these sites might reveal novel organisms and metabolisms of biotechnological interest.
format Articulo
Articulo
author Farías, María Eugenia
Rasuk, María Cecilia
Gallagher, Kimberley L.
Contreras, Manuel
Kurth, Daniel
Fernández, Ana Beatriz
Poiré, Daniel Gustavo
Novoa, Fernando
Visscher, Pieter T.
author_facet Farías, María Eugenia
Rasuk, María Cecilia
Gallagher, Kimberley L.
Contreras, Manuel
Kurth, Daniel
Fernández, Ana Beatriz
Poiré, Daniel Gustavo
Novoa, Fernando
Visscher, Pieter T.
author_sort Farías, María Eugenia
title Prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at La Brava, a hypersaline lake at Salar de Atacama, Chile
title_short Prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at La Brava, a hypersaline lake at Salar de Atacama, Chile
title_full Prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at La Brava, a hypersaline lake at Salar de Atacama, Chile
title_fullStr Prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at La Brava, a hypersaline lake at Salar de Atacama, Chile
title_full_unstemmed Prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at La Brava, a hypersaline lake at Salar de Atacama, Chile
title_sort prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at la brava, a hypersaline lake at salar de atacama, chile
publishDate 2017
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/87417
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