作者: Jacek Wierzchos , Jocelyne DiRuggiero , Petr Vítek , Octavio Artieda , Virginia Souza-Egipsy
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摘要: The Atacama Desert, northern Chile, is one of the driest deserts on Earth and, as such, a natural laboratory to explore limits life and strategies evolved by microorganisms adapt extreme environments. Here we report exceptional adaptation chlorophototrophic eukaryotic algae, prokaryotic cyanobacteria hyperarid extremely high solar radiation conditions occurring in this desert. Our approach combined several microscopy techniques, spectroscopic analytical methods, molecular analyses. We found that major strategy was avoid environmental colonizing cryptoendolithic, well as, hypoendolithic habitats within gypsum deposits. cryptoendolithic colonization occurred few millimeters beneath surface showed succession organized horizons algae cyanobacteria, which has never been reported for endolithic microbial communities. presence algal layer, close contact with sepiolite inclusions, their suggest occasional liquid water might persist these sub-microhabitats. also identified abundant carotenoids upper habitat scytonemin habitat. This study illustrates successful lithobiontic at limit result combination adaptive excess irradiance evapotranspiration rates, taking advantage complex structural mineralogical characteristics deposits – conceptually called “rock’s habitable architecture”. Additionally self-protection synthesis accumulation secondary metabolites likely produces shielding effect prevents photoinhibition lethal photooxidative damage chlorophototrophs, representing another level adaptation.