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Sponsored Content Minireview | Applied and Environmental Science

Energetic Basis of Microbial Growth and Persistence in Desert Ecosystems

Pok Man Leung, Sean K. Bay, Dimitri V. Meier, Eleonora Chiri, Don A. Cowan, Osnat Gillor, Dagmar Woebken, Chris Greening
James C. Stegen, Editor
Pok Man Leung
aSchool of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
bDepartment of Microbiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
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  • ORCID record for Pok Man Leung
Sean K. Bay
aSchool of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
bDepartment of Microbiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
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Dimitri V. Meier
cDivision of Microbial Ecology, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Eleonora Chiri
aSchool of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
bDepartment of Microbiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
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Don A. Cowan
dCentre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa
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Osnat Gillor
eZuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Sde Boker, Israel
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Dagmar Woebken
cDivision of Microbial Ecology, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Chris Greening
aSchool of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
bDepartment of Microbiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
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James C. Stegen
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
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DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.00495-19
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ABSTRACT

Microbial life is surprisingly abundant and diverse in global desert ecosystems. In these environments, microorganisms endure a multitude of physicochemical stresses, including low water potential, carbon and nitrogen starvation, and extreme temperatures. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the energetic mechanisms and trophic dynamics that underpin microbial function in desert ecosystems. Accumulating evidence suggests that dormancy is a common strategy that facilitates microbial survival in response to water and carbon limitation. Whereas photoautotrophs are restricted to specific niches in extreme deserts, metabolically versatile heterotrophs persist even in the hyper-arid topsoils of the Atacama Desert and Antarctica. At least three distinct strategies appear to allow such microorganisms to conserve energy in these oligotrophic environments: degradation of organic energy reserves, rhodopsin- and bacteriochlorophyll-dependent light harvesting, and oxidation of the atmospheric trace gases hydrogen and carbon monoxide. In turn, these principles are relevant for understanding the composition, functionality, and resilience of desert ecosystems, as well as predicting responses to the growing problem of desertification.

This minireview went through the journal's normal peer review process. DayTwo sponsored the minireview and its associated video but had no editorial input on the content.

  • Copyright © 2020 Leung et al.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

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Energetic Basis of Microbial Growth and Persistence in Desert Ecosystems
Pok Man Leung, Sean K. Bay, Dimitri V. Meier, Eleonora Chiri, Don A. Cowan, Osnat Gillor, Dagmar Woebken, Chris Greening
mSystems Apr 2020, 5 (2) e00495-19; DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.00495-19

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Energetic Basis of Microbial Growth and Persistence in Desert Ecosystems
Pok Man Leung, Sean K. Bay, Dimitri V. Meier, Eleonora Chiri, Don A. Cowan, Osnat Gillor, Dagmar Woebken, Chris Greening
mSystems Apr 2020, 5 (2) e00495-19; DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.00495-19
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  • Top
  • Article
    • ABSTRACT
    • INTRODUCTION
    • DORMANCY AS A GENERAL STRATEGY TO REDUCE ENERGY EXPENDITURE
    • ENERGY RESERVE HYPOTHESIS
    • CONTINUAL-ENERGY-HARVESTING HYPOTHESIS
    • CONCLUSIONS
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • REFERENCES
    • Author Bios
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KEYWORDS

desert
dormancy
energetics
energy reserve
photosynthesis
trace gas

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