Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, CNIB, Bolivia.
Departamento de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, Madrid 28049, Spain.
Environ Microbiol. 2017 Sep;19(9):3745-3754. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.13876. Epub 2017 Aug 24.
Salar de Uyuni (SdU), with a geological history that reflects 50 000 years of climate change, is the largest hypersaline salt flat on Earth and is estimated to be the biggest lithium reservoir in the world. Its salinity reaches saturation levels for NaCl, a kosmotropic salt, and high concentrations of MgCL and LiCl, both salts considered important chaotrophic stressors. In addition, extreme temperatures, anoxic conditions, high UV irradiance, high albedo and extremely low concentrations of phosphorous, make SdU a unique natural extreme environment in which to contrast hypotheses about limiting factors of life diversification. Geophysical studies of brines from different sampling stations show that water activity is rather constant along SdU. Geochemical measurements show significant differences in magnesium concentration, ranging from 0.2 to 2M. This work analyses the prokaryotic diversity and community structure at four SdU sampling stations, selected according to their location and ionic composition. Prokaryotic communities were composed of both Archaea (with members of the classes Halobacteria, Thermoplasmata and Nanohaloarchaea, from the Euryarchaeota and Nanohaloarcheota phyla respectively) and Bacteria (mainly belonging to Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria phyla). The important differences in composition of microbial communities inversely correlate with Mg concentration, suggesting that prokaryotic diversity at SdU is chaotropic dependent.
乌尤尼盐沼(Salar de Uyuni,SdU)的地质历史反映了 5 万年的气候变化,是地球上最大的超盐性盐湖,估计是世界上最大的锂储备库。其盐度达到了 NaCl(亲潮盐)的饱和水平,以及高浓度的 MgCL 和 LiCl,这两种盐都被认为是重要的混沌胁迫剂。此外,极端温度、缺氧条件、高紫外线辐射、高反照率和极低浓度的磷,使 SdU 成为一个独特的自然极端环境,可以用来对比生命多样化的限制因素假设。对来自不同采样站的卤水进行地球物理研究表明,水活度在 SdU 上相当稳定。地球化学测量显示镁浓度有显著差异,范围从 0.2 到 2M。本工作分析了根据位置和离子组成选择的四个 SdU 采样站的原核生物多样性和群落结构。原核生物群落由古菌(分别属于 Euryarchaeota 和 Nanohaloarcheota 门的 Halobacteria、Thermoplasmata 和 Nanohaloarchaea 类)和细菌(主要属于 Bacteroidetes 和 Proteobacteria 门)组成。微生物群落组成的重要差异与 Mg 浓度呈反比,表明 SdU 原核生物多样性依赖于混沌性。