We describe stromatolites forming at an altitude of 3570 m at the shore of a volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes. The water at the site of stromatolites formation is alkaline, hypersaline, rich in inorganic nutrients, very rich in arsenic, and warm (20–24°C) due to a hydrothermal input. The stromatolites do not lithify, but form broad, rounded and low-domed bioherms dominated by diatom frustules and aragonite micro-crystals agglutinated by extracellular substances. In comparison to other modern stromatolites, they harbour an atypical microbial community characterized by highly abundant representatives of Deinococcus-Thermus, Rhodobacteraceae, Desulfobacterales and Spirochaetes. Additionally, a high proportion of the sequences that could not be classified at phylum level showed less than 80% identity to the best hit in the NCBI database, suggesting the presence of novel distant lineages. The primary production in the stromatolites is generally high and likely dominated by Microcoleus sp. Through negative phototaxis, the location of these cyanobacteria in the stromatolites is controlled by UV light, which greatly influences their photosynthetic activity. Diatoms, dominated by Amphora sp., are abundant in the anoxic, sulfidic and essentially dark parts of the stromatolites. Although their origin in the stromatolites is unclear, they are possibly an important source of anaerobically degraded organic matter that induces in situ aragonite precipitation. To the best of our knowledge, this is so far the highest altitude with documented actively forming stromatolites. Their generally rich, diverse and to a large extent novel microbial community likely harbours valuable genetic and proteomic reserves, and thus deserves active protection. Furthermore, since the stromatolites flourish in an environment characterized by a multitude of extremes, including high exposure to UV radiation, they can be an excellent model system for studying microbial adaptations under conditions that, at least in part, resemble those during the early phase of life evolution on Earth.

In this paper, we report the presence of sedimentary microbial ecosystems in wetlands of the Salar de Atacama. These laminated systems, which bind, trap and precipitate mineral include: microbial mats at Laguna Tebenquiche and Laguna La Brava, gypsum domes at Tebenquiche and carbonate microbialites at La Brava. Microbial diversity and key biogeochemical characteristics of both lakes (La Brava and Tebenquiche) and their various microbial ecosystems (non-lithifying mats, flat and domal microbialites) were determined. The composition and abundance of minerals ranged from trapped and bound halite in organic-rich non-lithifying mats to aragonite-dominated lithified flat microbialites and gypsum in lithified domal structures. Pyrosequencing of the V4 region of the 16s rDNA gene showed that Proteobacteria comprised a major phylum in all of the microbial ecosystems studied, with a marked lower abundance in the non-lithifying mats. A higher proportion of Bacteroidetes was present in Tebenquiche sediments compared to La Brava samples. The concentration of pigments, particularly that of Chlorophyll a, was higher in the Tebenquiche than in La Brava. Pigments typically associated with anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria were present in lower amounts. Organic-rich, non-lithifying microbial mats frequently formed snake-like, bulbous structures due to gas accumulation underneath the mat. We hypothesize that the lithified microbialites might have developed from these snake-like microbial mats following mineral precipitation in the surface layer, producing domes with endoevaporitic communities in Tebenquiche and carbonate platforms in La Brava. Whereas the potential role of microbes in carbonate platforms is well established, the contribution of endoevaporitic microbes to formation of gypsum domes needs further investigation.

High-altitude Andean wetlands are pristine environments with extreme conditions such as high UV radiation, high heavy metal content (mainly arsenic), high salinity, and oligotrophy. In this paper, the UV-B resistance and tolerance to arsenic of phylogenetically characterized bacteria (Actinobacteria [six isolates], Firmicutes [four isolates], and gamma-Proteobacteria [three isolates]) isolated from Laguna Vilama (4400-m altitude) and Laguna Azul (4560 m) were determined. In addition, given that multiple antibiotic resistances were also determined, a relationship between antibiotic resistances as a consequence of mutagenic ability or in relation to metal resistance is proposed. High UV-B resistances were found, since after 30 min (0.7 KJ m(-2)) and 60 min (1.4 KJ m(-2)) of irradiation, most of the studied bacteria did not show a decreased survival; what is more, many of them had an improved survival with the increased doses. Augmentations in mutagenesis rates were observed after UV-B irradiation in only 4 of the 13 tested isolates. Arsenite tolerance was also established in 8 of the 13 tested strains: Staphylococcus saprophyticus A3 and Micrococcus sp. A7, which were able to grow in media containing up to 10 mM As(III). Finally, predominance of antibiotic resistances (azithromycin, erythromycin, clarithromycin, roxithromycin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, gentamycin, kanamycin, tetracycline, and ampicillin) was found, in all the isolated strains from both wetlands, with unexpectedly high minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs; >2 mg mL(-1)) for macrolides. These results demonstrate that in extreme environments like high-altitude wetlands there is a correlation of multiresistances to UV-B radiation and arsenic, and that antibiotic resistances are also widespread in these pristine environments, where antibiotic selective pressure is supposed to be absent.