Extended divergence estimates and species descriptions of new craspedid choanoflagellates from the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile

Schiwitza, Sabine; Gutsche, Lennart; Freches, Eric; Arndt, Hartmut; Nitsche, Frank

doi:10.1016/j.ejop.2021.125798

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Differences in the salinity of the water bodies originated from different catchment areas (Ritter et al, 2018), explaining in part the uniqueness of environmental conditions in each salar/lagoon and the differences in community structure (Figure 6). The salinity is specifically tolerated by protist species from various phylogenetic lineages isolated from hypersaline lagoons and salars of the Atacama (Schiwitza et al, 2018(Schiwitza et al, , 2019(Schiwitza et al, , 2021Carduck et al, 2021;Rybarski et al, 2021;Schoenle et al, 2022).…”

Section: Factors Associated With the Benthic Protistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A significant challenge originates from the fact that many microbes remain uncultivable and their functions remain poorly understood (Solden et al, 2016). However, modern sequencing techniques allow for the exploration of the genetic pool of microbial communities, the study of their structure and functions, and the examination of biogeographic patterns in response to contemporary environmental factors and historical contingencies (Venter et al, 2017;Schiwitza et al, 2018Schiwitza et al, , 2019Schiwitza et al, , 2021Arndt et al, 2020;Rybarski et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…), in saline microbial mats and hypersaline lagoons harboring biosignatures classified as diatoms, bicosoecids, and ciliates as detected by metabarcoding (Saghaï et al, 2017;Rybarski et al, 2023). Efforts to isolate and sequence the cultivable and uncultivable protist diversity from saline to hypersaline lagoons unveiled a novel endemic diversity including species from Opisthokonta (choanoflagellates), Rhizaria (Cercomonadida), Discoba (percolomonads), Stramenopiles (bicosoecids and placidids), and Alveolata (ciliates) (Schiwitza et al, 2018(Schiwitza et al, , 2019(Schiwitza et al, , 2021Arndt et al, 2020;Carduck et al, 2021;Rybarski et al, 2021Rybarski et al, , 2023Schoenle et al, 2022;Acosta et al, 2023;Hohlfeld et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Protist communities of microbial mats from the extreme environments of five saline Andean lagoons at high altitudes in the Atacama Desert

Acosta,

Nitsche,

Dorador

et al. 2024

Front. Microbiol.

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IntroductionHeterotrophic protists colonizing microbial mats have received little attention over the last few years, despite their importance in microbial food webs. A significant challenge originates from the fact that many protists remain uncultivable and their functions remain poorly understood.MethodsMetabarcoding studies of protists in microbial mats across high-altitude lagoons of different salinities (4.3–34 practical salinity units) were carried out to provide insights into their vertical stratification at the millimeter scale. DNA and cDNA were analyzed for selected stations.ResultsSequence variants classified as the amoeboid rhizarian Rhogostoma and the ciliate Euplotes were found to be common members of the heterotrophic protist communities. They were accompanied by diatoms and kinetoplastids. Correlation analyses point to the salinity of the water column as a main driver influencing the structure of the protist communities at the five studied microbial mats. The active part of the protist communities was detected to be higher at lower salinities (<20 practical salinity units).DiscussionWe found a restricted overlap of the protist community between the different microbial mats indicating the uniqueness of these different aquatic habitats. On the other hand, the dominating genotypes present in metabarcoding were similar and could be isolated and sequenced in comparative studies (Rhogostoma, Euplotes, Neobodo). Our results provide a snapshot of the unculturable protist diversity thriving the benthic zone of five athalossohaline lagoons across the Andean plateau.

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