BACKGROUND : Metagenomics allows unprecedented access to uncultured environmental microorganisms. The analysis of metagenomic sequences facilitates gene prediction and annotation, and enables the assembly of draft genomes, ...

Heterotrophic bacteria proliferate in organic-rich environments and systems containing sufficient essential nutrients. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the nutrients required in the highest concentrations. The ratio ...

Microbes in hot desert soil partake in core ecosystem processes e.g., biogeochemical cycling of carbon. Nevertheless, there is still a fundamental lack of insights regarding short-term (i.e., over a 24-hour [diel] cycle) ...

Hypoliths are microbially colonized translucent rocks that represent a key refuge niche in extreme arid environments such as the Antarctic Dry Valleys. These cryptic microbial assemblages are crucial as they mediate ...

Water availability is the dominant driver of microbial community structure and function in desert soils. However, these habitats typically only receive very infrequent large-scale water inputs (e.g., from precipitation ...

Culture-independent studies rely on the quantity and quality of the extracted environmental metagenomic DNA (mDNA). To fully access the plant tissue microbiome, the extracted plant mDNA should allow optimal PCR applications ...

Whether they are exposed to extremes of heat, cold, or buried deep beneath the Earth‟s surface, microorganisms have an uncanny ability to survive under these conditions. This ability to survive has fascinated scientists ...

Arid ecosystems cover ∼40% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and store a high proportion of the global nitrogen (N) pool. They are low-productivity, low-biomass, and polyextreme ecosystems, i.e., with (hyper)arid and ...

The Namib Desert is one of the world’s only truly coastal desert ecosystem. Until the end of the 1st decade of the twenty-first century, very little was known of the microbiology of this southwestern African desert, with ...

The formation of environmentally toxic acidic waste from mining activities is a world-wide problem. Neutralization of this waste can be accomplished by physicochemical and/or biological means. In this short-term study, ...