Energetic basis of microbial growth and persistence in desert ecosystems

dc.contributor.authorLeung, Pok Man
dc.contributor.authorBay, Sean K.
dc.contributor.authorMeier, Dimitri V.
dc.contributor.authorChiri, Eleonora
dc.contributor.authorCowan, Don A.
dc.contributor.authorGillor, Osnat
dc.contributor.authorWoebken, Dagmar
dc.contributor.authorGreening, Chris
dc.date.accessioned2020-05-05T13:46:18Z
dc.date.available2020-05-05T13:46:18Z
dc.date.issued2020-03
dc.description.abstractMicrobial life is surprisingly abundant and diverse in global desert ecosystems. In these environments, microorganisms endure a multitude of physicochemical stresses, including low water potential, carbon and nitrogen starvation, and extreme temperatures. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the energetic mechanisms and trophic dynamics that underpin microbial function in desert ecosystems. Accumulating evidence suggests that dormancy is a common strategy that facilitates microbial survival in response to water and carbon limitation. Whereas photoautotrophs are restricted to specific niches in extreme deserts, metabolically versatile heterotrophs persist even in the hyper-arid topsoils of the Atacama Desert and Antarctica. At least three distinct strategies appear to allow such microorganisms to conserve energy in these oligotrophic environments: degradation of organic energy reserves, rhodopsin- and bacteriochlorophyll-dependent light harvesting, and oxidation of the atmospheric trace gases hydrogen and carbon monoxide. In turn, these principles are relevant for understanding the composition, functionality, and resilience of desert ecosystems, as well as predicting responses to the growing problem of desertification.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentGeneticsen_ZA
dc.description.librarianhj2020en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipAn ARC DECRA fellowship (DE170100310; awarded to C.G.), a Swiss National Science Foundation Early Postdoc Mobility fellowship (P2EZP3_178421; awarded to E.C.), an Australian Government Research training stipend (awarded to P.M.L.), Monash University Ph.D. scholarships (awarded to P.M.L. and S.K.B.), and a European Research Council (ERC) starting grant funded by the ERC under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (636928; awarded to D.W.).en_ZA
dc.description.urihttps://msystems.asm.orgen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationLeung PM, Bay SK, Meier DV, Chiri E, Cowan DA, Gillor O, Woebken D, Greening C. 2020. Energetic basis of microbial growth and persistence in desert ecosystems. mSystems 5:e00495-19. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00495-19.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn2379-5077 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1128/mSystems.00495-19
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/74486
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherAmerican Society for Microbiologyen_ZA
dc.rights© 2020 Leung et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.en_ZA
dc.subjectDeserten_ZA
dc.subjectDormancyen_ZA
dc.subjectEnergeticsen_ZA
dc.subjectEnergy reserveen_ZA
dc.subjectPhotosynthesisen_ZA
dc.subjectTrace gasen_ZA
dc.titleEnergetic basis of microbial growth and persistence in desert ecosystemsen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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