Vignale Federico A, Kurth Daniel, Lencina Agustina I, Poiré Daniel G, Chihuailaf Elizabeth, Muñoz-Herrera Natalia C, Novoa Fernando, Contreras Manuel, Turjanski Adrián G, Farías María E
Laboratorio de Investigaciones Microbiológicas de Lagunas Andinas (LIMLA), Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (PROIMI), CCT, CONICET, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.
Laboratorio de Bioinformática Estructural, Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN)-CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Front Microbiol. 2021 Oct 28;12:762076. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.762076. eCollection 2021.
The Salar de Atacama in the Chilean Central Andes harbors unique microbial ecosystems due to extreme environmental conditions, such as high altitude, low oxygen pressure, high solar radiation, and high salinity. Combining X-ray diffraction analyses, scanning electron microscopy and molecular diversity studies, we have characterized twenty previously unexplored Andean microbial ecosystems in eight different lakes and wetlands from the middle-east and south-east regions of this salt flat. The mats and microbialites studied are mainly formed by calcium carbonate (aragonite and calcite) and halite, whereas the endoevaporites are composed predominantly of gypsum and halite. The carbonate-rich mats and microbialites are dominated by and phyla. Within the phylum , the most abundant classes are , and . While in the phylum , the most abundant classes are and . , , , and phyla are also well-represented in the majority of these systems. Gypsum endoevaporites, on the contrary, are dominated by , , and phyla. The phylum is also abundant in these systems, but it is less represented in comparison to mats and microbialites. Regarding the eukaryotic taxa, diatoms are key structural components in most of the microbial ecosystems studied. The genera of diatoms identified were , , , , , , and . Normally, in the mats and microbialites, diatoms form nano-globular carbonate aggregates with filamentous cyanobacteria and other prokaryotic cells, suggesting their participation in the mineral precipitation process. This work expands our knowledge of the microbial ecosystems inhabiting the extreme environments from the Central Andes region, which is important to ensure their protection and conservation.
由于极端的环境条件，如高海拔、低氧压力、高太阳辐射和高盐度，智利中部安第斯山脉的阿塔卡马盐沼拥有独特的微生物生态系统。结合X射线衍射分析、扫描电子显微镜和分子多样性研究，我们对该盐沼中东和东南部地区八个不同湖泊和湿地中二十个以前未被探索的安第斯微生物生态系统进行了特征描述。所研究的席状生物膜和微生物岩主要由碳酸钙（文石和方解石）和石盐形成，而内蒸发盐主要由石膏和石盐组成。富含碳酸盐的席状生物膜和微生物岩以[具体菌门]和[具体菌门]为主。在[具体菌门]中，最丰富的类群是[具体类群]、[具体类群]和[具体类群]。而在[具体菌门]中，最丰富的类群是[具体类群]和[具体类群]。[具体菌门]、[具体菌门]、[具体菌门]和[具体菌门]在这些系统中的大多数中也有很好的代表性。相反，石膏内蒸发盐以[具体菌门]、[具体菌门]和[具体菌门]为主。[具体菌门]在这些系统中也很丰富，但与席状生物膜和微生物岩相比，其代表性较低。关于真核生物分类群，硅藻是大多数所研究的微生物生态系统中的关键结构成分。鉴定出的硅藻属有[具体属名]、[具体属名]、[具体属名]、[具体属名]、[具体属名]、[具体属名]和[具体属名]。通常，在席状生物膜和微生物岩中，硅藻与丝状蓝细菌和其他原核细胞形成纳米球状碳酸盐聚集体，表明它们参与了矿物沉淀过程。这项工作扩展了我们对居住在安第斯山脉中部地区极端环境中的微生物生态系统的认识，这对于确保对它们的保护至关重要。
