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Living Lithic and Sublithic Bacterial Communities in Namibian Drylands

Dryland xeric conditions exert a deterministic effect on microbial communities, forcing life into refuge niches. Deposited rocks can form a lithic niche for microorganisms in desert regions. Mineral weathering is a key process in soil formation and the importance of microbial-driven mineral weatheri...

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Autores principales: Genderjahn, Steffi, Lewin, Simon, Horn, Fabian, Schleicher, Anja M., Mangelsdorf, Kai, Wagner, Dirk
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7911874/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33498742
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9020235
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author Genderjahn, Steffi
Lewin, Simon
Horn, Fabian
Schleicher, Anja M.
Mangelsdorf, Kai
Wagner, Dirk
author_facet Genderjahn, Steffi
Lewin, Simon
Horn, Fabian
Schleicher, Anja M.
Mangelsdorf, Kai
Wagner, Dirk
author_sort Genderjahn, Steffi
collection PubMed
description Dryland xeric conditions exert a deterministic effect on microbial communities, forcing life into refuge niches. Deposited rocks can form a lithic niche for microorganisms in desert regions. Mineral weathering is a key process in soil formation and the importance of microbial-driven mineral weathering for nutrient extraction is increasingly accepted. Advances in geobiology provide insight into the interactions between microorganisms and minerals that play an important role in weathering processes. In this study, we present the examination of the microbial diversity in dryland rocks from the Tsauchab River banks in Namibia. We paired culture-independent 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing with culture-dependent (isolation of bacteria) techniques to assess the community structure and diversity patterns. Bacteria isolated from dryland rocks are typical of xeric environments and are described as being involved in rock weathering processes. For the first time, we extracted extra- and intracellular DNA from rocks to enhance our understanding of potentially rock-weathering microorganisms. We compared the microbial community structure in different rock types (limestone, quartz-rich sandstone and quartz-rich shale) with adjacent soils below the rocks. Our results indicate differences in the living lithic and sublithic microbial communities.
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spelling pubmed-79118742021-02-28 Living Lithic and Sublithic Bacterial Communities in Namibian Drylands Genderjahn, Steffi Lewin, Simon Horn, Fabian Schleicher, Anja M. Mangelsdorf, Kai Wagner, Dirk Microorganisms Article Dryland xeric conditions exert a deterministic effect on microbial communities, forcing life into refuge niches. Deposited rocks can form a lithic niche for microorganisms in desert regions. Mineral weathering is a key process in soil formation and the importance of microbial-driven mineral weathering for nutrient extraction is increasingly accepted. Advances in geobiology provide insight into the interactions between microorganisms and minerals that play an important role in weathering processes. In this study, we present the examination of the microbial diversity in dryland rocks from the Tsauchab River banks in Namibia. We paired culture-independent 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing with culture-dependent (isolation of bacteria) techniques to assess the community structure and diversity patterns. Bacteria isolated from dryland rocks are typical of xeric environments and are described as being involved in rock weathering processes. For the first time, we extracted extra- and intracellular DNA from rocks to enhance our understanding of potentially rock-weathering microorganisms. We compared the microbial community structure in different rock types (limestone, quartz-rich sandstone and quartz-rich shale) with adjacent soils below the rocks. Our results indicate differences in the living lithic and sublithic microbial communities. MDPI 2021-01-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7911874/ /pubmed/33498742 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9020235 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Genderjahn, Steffi
Lewin, Simon
Horn, Fabian
Schleicher, Anja M.
Mangelsdorf, Kai
Wagner, Dirk
Living Lithic and Sublithic Bacterial Communities in Namibian Drylands
title Living Lithic and Sublithic Bacterial Communities in Namibian Drylands
title_full Living Lithic and Sublithic Bacterial Communities in Namibian Drylands
title_fullStr Living Lithic and Sublithic Bacterial Communities in Namibian Drylands
title_full_unstemmed Living Lithic and Sublithic Bacterial Communities in Namibian Drylands
title_short Living Lithic and Sublithic Bacterial Communities in Namibian Drylands
title_sort living lithic and sublithic bacterial communities in namibian drylands
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7911874/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33498742
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9020235
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