Survival and rapid resuscitation permit limited productivity in desert microbial communities
- Author(s)
- Stefanie Imminger, Dimitri V Meier, Arno Schintlmeister, Anton Legin, Jörg Schnecker, Andreas Richter, Osnat Gillor, Stephanie A Eichorst, Dagmar Woebken
- Abstract
Microbial activity in drylands tends to be confined to rare and short periods of rain. Rapid growth should be key to the maintenance of ecosystem processes in such narrow activity windows, if desiccation and rehydration cause widespread cell death due to osmotic stress. Here, simulating rain with 2H2O followed by single-cell NanoSIMS, we show that biocrust microbial communities in the Negev Desert are characterized by limited productivity, with median replication times of 6 to 19 days and restricted number of days allowing growth. Genome-resolved metatranscriptomics reveals that nearly all microbial populations resuscitate within minutes after simulated rain, independent of taxonomy, and invest their activity into repair and energy generation. Together, our data reveal a community that makes optimal use of short activity phases by fast and universal resuscitation enabling the maintenance of key ecosystem functions. We conclude that desert biocrust communities are highly adapted to surviving rapid changes in soil moisture and solute concentrations, resulting in high persistence that balances limited productivity.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Large-Instrument Facility for Environmental and Isotope Mass Spectrometry, Department of Inorganic Chemistry
- External organisation(s)
- Universität Bayreuth, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Volume
- 15
- No. of pages
- 17
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46920-6
- Publication date
- 04-2024
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106026 Ecosystem research, 105904 Environmental research, 106022 Microbiology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy, General Chemistry, General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/9dd11d03-d962-44b7-bb31-6333dd001b1b