Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, China.
College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, China.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2023 Nov 29;89(11):e0107223. doi: 10.1128/aem.01072-23. Epub 2023 Oct 30.
The hyperarid Dalangtan Playa in the western Qaidam Basin, northwestern China, is a unique terrestrial analog of Mars. Despite the polyextreme environments of this area, habitats below translucent rocks capable of environmental buffering could serve as refuges for microbial life. In this study, the hybrid assembly of Illumina short reads and Nanopore long reads recovered high-quality and high-continuity genomes, allowing for high-accuracy analysis and a deeper understanding of extremophiles in the sheltered soils of the Dalangtan Playa. Our findings reveal self-supporting and metabolically versatile sheltered soil communities adapted to a hyperarid and hypersaline playa, which provides implications for the search for life signals on Mars.
中国西北部柴达木盆地西部的极度干旱的大浪滩是火星的独特陆地模拟地。尽管该地区的环境极其恶劣，但在能够起到环境缓冲作用的半透明岩石下的栖息地可能是微生物生命的避难所。在这项研究中，Illumina 短读序列和 Nanopore 长读序列的混合组装恢复了高质量和高连续性的基因组，使得对大浪滩受庇护土壤中的极端微生物进行高精度分析和更深入的理解成为可能。我们的研究结果揭示了自支撑且代谢多样的受庇护土壤群落适应了极度干旱和高盐度的盐湖环境，这为在火星上寻找生命信号提供了启示。
