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Novel Methods for Studying the Structure and Function of Hot Desert Microorganisms and Their Communities

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Microbiology of Hot Deserts

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 244))

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Abstract

Since the 1980s, the quantity of sequence data has boomed by seven orders of magnitude. These successive technical revolutions, among others, have allowed us to begin shedding light on complex microbial communities. Here, we consolidate literature on the most recent and innovative methods that could be applied to the study of microbial consortia from hot desert environments. While a variety of soil niches constitute the habitats for hot desert microflora and fauna, we focus specifically on biological soil crusts (biocrusts). Biocrusts are commonly found in hot desert environments around the globe and are a powerful testbed for new approaches due to their experimental tractability. Within this chapter, we focus on several avenues for examining the ecology of soil microbial communities, namely through (1) DNA sequencing of entire microbial communities, (2) identifying active community members, (3) using metabolomics to explore microbial nutrient release and uptake, and (4) applying high-resolution imaging of communities. Finally, we offer considerations about the utility of each approach for hot desert ecology and offer potential future lines of inquiry for research within the field of hot desert microbiology.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funds provided by the Office of Science Early Career Research Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231 to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Marc W. Van Goethem & Trent R. Northen

  2. Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

    Estelle Couradeau

  3. DOE Joint Genome Institute, Integrative Genomics Building, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Trent R. Northen

Authors
  1. Marc W. Van Goethem
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  2. Estelle Couradeau
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  3. Trent R. Northen
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Correspondence to Trent R. Northen .

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  1. Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Jean-Baptiste Ramond

  2. Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics - Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Don A. Cowan

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Van Goethem, M.W., Couradeau, E., Northen, T.R. (2022). Novel Methods for Studying the Structure and Function of Hot Desert Microorganisms and Their Communities. In: Ramond, JB., Cowan, D.A. (eds) Microbiology of Hot Deserts. Ecological Studies, vol 244. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98415-1_2

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