2
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Turrini P, Chebbi A, Riggio FP, Visca P. The geomicrobiology of limestone, sulfuric acid speleogenetic, and volcanic caves: basic concepts and future perspectives. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1370520. [PMID: 38572233 PMCID: PMC10987966 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1370520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Caves are ubiquitous subterranean voids, accounting for a still largely unexplored surface of the Earth underground. Due to the absence of sunlight and physical segregation, caves are naturally colonized by microorganisms that have developed distinctive capabilities to thrive under extreme conditions of darkness and oligotrophy. Here, the microbiomes colonizing three frequently studied cave types, i.e., limestone, sulfuric acid speleogenetic (SAS), and lava tubes among volcanic caves, have comparatively been reviewed. Geological configurations, nutrient availability, and energy flows in caves are key ecological drivers shaping cave microbiomes through photic, twilight, transient, and deep cave zones. Chemoheterotrophic microbial communities, whose sustenance depends on nutrients supplied from outside, are prevalent in limestone and volcanic caves, while elevated inorganic chemical energy is available in SAS caves, enabling primary production through chemolithoautotrophy. The 16S rRNA-based metataxonomic profiles of cave microbiomes were retrieved from previous studies employing the Illumina platform for sequencing the prokaryotic V3-V4 hypervariable region to compare the microbial community structures from different cave systems and environmental samples. Limestone caves and lava tubes are colonized by largely overlapping bacterial phyla, with the prevalence of Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota, whereas the co-dominance of Pseudomonadota and Campylobacterota members characterizes SAS caves. Most of the metataxonomic profiling data have so far been collected from the twilight and transient zones, while deep cave zones remain elusive, deserving further exploration. Integrative approaches for future geomicrobiology studies are suggested to gain comprehensive insights into the different cave types and zones. This review also poses novel research questions for unveiling the metabolic and genomic capabilities of cave microorganisms, paving the way for their potential biotechnological applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo Turrini
- Department of Science, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
| | - Alif Chebbi
- Department of Science, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Paolo Visca
- Department of Science, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
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3
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Biagioli F, Coleine C, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Feng Y, Saiz-Jimenez C, Selbmann L. Outdoor climate drives diversity patterns of dominant microbial taxa in caves worldwide. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 906:167674. [PMID: 37813267 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023]
Abstract
The cave microbiota is assumed to be shaped by indoor microclimate, biotic and abiotic factors, which are largely dependent from outside environmental conditions; however, this knowledge is available at local or regional scales only. To address this knowledge gap, we reanalyzed over 1050 bacterial and fungal communities of caves worldwide, and found that outdoor temperature and rainfall play a critical role in explaining differences in microbial diversity patterns of global caves, selecting specific dominant taxa across gradients of growing aridity conditions with arid climate leading to a reduction in total cave microbial diversity. Moreover, we found that fungal (from 186 to 1908 taxa) and bacterial (from 467 to 1619 taxa) diversity increased under temperate-tropical and temperate-continental climatic regions, respectively, highlighting an opposite preference for the two microbial compartments. We hypothesized that outdoor geographical, climatic variables and lithology are critical epistatic drivers in assembling microbial communities and their dominant taxa, whose ecological responses could be useful to predict the fate of these subterranean environments in the context of climate change. Our work elucidates the intimate connection between caves microbiota and surface ecosystems highlighting the sensitivity of cave microbial communities to climatic changes and environmental degradation. This work also provides a natural benchmark for the biogeographic information for caves globally and for protection strategies aiming at conservation of underground environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Biagioli
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
| | - Claudia Coleine
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy.
| | - Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo
- Laboratorio de Biodiversidad y Funcionamiento Ecosistémico, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, Av. Reina Mercedes 10, E-41012 Sevilla, Spain.
| | - Youzhi Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210006 Nanjing, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, 210095 Nanjing, China
| | - Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez
- Microbiología Ambiental y Patrimonio Cultural, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, Av. Reina Mercedes 10, E-41012 Sevilla, Spain
| | - Laura Selbmann
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy; Mycological Section, Italian Antarctic National Museum (MNA), Via al Porto Antico, 16128 Genoa, Italy
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4
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Martin-Pozas T, Fernandez-Cortes A, Cuezva S, Cañaveras JC, Benavente D, Duarte E, Saiz-Jimenez C, Sanchez-Moral S. New insights into the structure, microbial diversity and ecology of yellow biofilms in a Paleolithic rock art cave (Pindal Cave, Asturias, Spain). THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 897:165218. [PMID: 37419360 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
In the absence of sunlight, caves harbor a great diversity of microbial colonies to extensive biofilms with different sizes and colors visible to the naked eye. One of the most widespread and visible types of biofilm are those with yellow hues that can constitute a serious problem for the conservation of cultural heritage in many caves, such as Pindal Cave (Asturias, Spain). This cave, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its Paleolithic parietal art, shows a high degree of development of yellow biofilms that represents a real threat to the conservation of painted and engraved figures. This study aims to: 1) identify the microbial structures and the most characteristic taxa composing the yellow biofilms, 2) seek the linked microbiome reservoir primarily contributing to their growth; 3) seed light on the driving vectors that contribute to their formation and determine the subsequent proliferation and spatial distribution. To achieve this goal, we used amplicon-based massive sequencing, in combination with other techniques such as microscopy, in situ hybridization and environmental monitoring, to compare the microbial communities of yellow biofilms with those of drip waters, cave sediments and exterior soil. The results revealed microbial structures related to the phylum Actinomycetota and the most characteristic bacteria in yellow biofilms, represented by the genera wb1-P19, Crossiella, Nitrospira, and Arenimonas. Our findings suggest that sediments serve as potential reservoirs and colonization sites for these bacteria that can develop into biofilms under favorable environmental and substrate conditions, with a particular affinity for speleothems and rugged-surfaced rocks found in condensation-prone areas. This study presents an exhaustive study of microbial communities of yellow biofilms in a cave, which could be used as a procedure for the identification of similar biofilms in other caves and to design effective conservation strategies in caves with valuable cultural heritage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamara Martin-Pozas
- Department of Geology, National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), 28006 Madrid, Spain.
| | | | - Soledad Cuezva
- Department of Geology, Geography and Environment, University of Alcala, Campus Cientifico-Tecnologico, 28802 Alcala de Henares, Spain.
| | - Juan Carlos Cañaveras
- Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences, University of Alicante, Campus San Vicente del Raspeig, 03690 Alicante, Spain.
| | - David Benavente
- Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences, University of Alicante, Campus San Vicente del Raspeig, 03690 Alicante, Spain.
| | - Elsa Duarte
- Department of History, University of Oviedo, 33011 Oviedo, Spain.
| | - Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez
- Department of Agrochemistry, Environmental Microbiology and Soil and Water Protection, Institute of Natural Resources and Agricultural Biology (IRNAS-CSIC), 41012 Seville, Spain.
| | - Sergio Sanchez-Moral
- Department of Geology, National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), 28006 Madrid, Spain.
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5
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Dorrell RG, Kuo A, Füssy Z, Richardson EH, Salamov A, Zarevski N, Freyria NJ, Ibarbalz FM, Jenkins J, Pierella Karlusich JJ, Stecca Steindorff A, Edgar RE, Handley L, Lail K, Lipzen A, Lombard V, McFarlane J, Nef C, Novák Vanclová AM, Peng Y, Plott C, Potvin M, Vieira FRJ, Barry K, de Vargas C, Henrissat B, Pelletier E, Schmutz J, Wincker P, Dacks JB, Bowler C, Grigoriev IV, Lovejoy C. Convergent evolution and horizontal gene transfer in Arctic Ocean microalgae. Life Sci Alliance 2023; 6:6/3/e202201833. [PMID: 36522135 PMCID: PMC9756366 DOI: 10.26508/lsa.202201833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Revised: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Microbial communities in the world ocean are affected strongly by oceanic circulation, creating characteristic marine biomes. The high connectivity of most of the ocean makes it difficult to disentangle selective retention of colonizing genotypes (with traits suited to biome specific conditions) from evolutionary selection, which would act on founder genotypes over time. The Arctic Ocean is exceptional with limited exchange with other oceans and ice covered since the last ice age. To test whether Arctic microalgal lineages evolved apart from algae in the global ocean, we sequenced four lineages of microalgae isolated from Arctic waters and sea ice. Here we show convergent evolution and highlight geographically limited HGT as an ecological adaptive force in the form of PFAM complements and horizontal acquisition of key adaptive genes. Notably, ice-binding proteins were acquired and horizontally transferred among Arctic strains. A comparison with Tara Oceans metagenomes and metatranscriptomes confirmed mostly Arctic distributions of these IBPs. The phylogeny of Arctic-specific genes indicated that these events were independent of bacterial-sourced HGTs in Antarctic Southern Ocean microalgae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard G Dorrell
- Institut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.,CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France
| | - Alan Kuo
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Zoltan Füssy
- Department of Parasitology, BIOCEV, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Elisabeth H Richardson
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta and Department of Biological Sciences, and University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Asaf Salamov
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Nikola Zarevski
- Institut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.,CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France
| | - Nastasia J Freyria
- Département de Biologie, Institut de Biologie Intégrative des Systèmes, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
| | - Federico M Ibarbalz
- Institut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.,CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France
| | - Jerry Jenkins
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.,HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, USA
| | - Juan Jose Pierella Karlusich
- Institut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.,CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France
| | - Andrei Stecca Steindorff
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Robyn E Edgar
- Département de Biologie, Institut de Biologie Intégrative des Systèmes, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
| | - Lori Handley
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, USA
| | - Kathleen Lail
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Anna Lipzen
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Vincent Lombard
- Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - John McFarlane
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta and Department of Biological Sciences, and University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Charlotte Nef
- Institut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.,CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France
| | - Anna Mg Novák Vanclová
- Institut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.,CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France
| | - Yi Peng
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Chris Plott
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, USA
| | - Marianne Potvin
- Département de Biologie, Institut de Biologie Intégrative des Systèmes, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
| | - Fabio Rocha Jimenez Vieira
- Institut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.,CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France
| | - Kerrie Barry
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Colomban de Vargas
- CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France.,Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, AD2M, UMR 7144, Roscoff, France
| | - Bernard Henrissat
- Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.,Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Eric Pelletier
- CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France.,Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut de Biologie François Jacob, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, CNRS, Université Évry, Université Paris-Saclay, Évry, France
| | - Jeremy Schmutz
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.,HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, USA
| | - Patrick Wincker
- CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France.,Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut de Biologie François Jacob, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, CNRS, Université Évry, Université Paris-Saclay, Évry, France
| | - Joel B Dacks
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta and Department of Biological Sciences, and University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Chris Bowler
- Institut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.,CNRS Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris, France
| | - Igor V Grigoriev
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Connie Lovejoy
- Département de Biologie, Institut de Biologie Intégrative des Systèmes, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
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6
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Di Lorenzo T, Reboleira ASPS. Thermal acclimation and metabolic scaling of a groundwater asellid in the climate change scenario. Sci Rep 2022; 12:17938. [PMID: 36289260 PMCID: PMC9605946 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-20891-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Metabolic rate has long been used in animal adaptation and performance studies, and individual oxygen consumption is used as proxy of metabolic rate. Stygofauna are organisms adapted to groundwater with presumably lower metabolic rates than their surface relatives. How stygofauna will cope with global temperature increase remains unpredictable. We studied the thermal acclimation and metabolic scaling with body mass of a stygobitic crustacean, Proasellus lusitanicus, in the climate change scenario. We measured oxygen consumption rates in a thermal ramp-up experiment over four assay temperatures and tested two hypotheses: (i) P. lusitanicus exhibits narrow thermal plasticity, inadequate for coping with a fast-increasing thermal regime; and (ii) oxygen consumption rates scale with the body mass by a factor close to 0.75, as commonly observed in other animals. Our results show that P. lusitanicus has low thermal plasticity in a fast-increasing thermal regime. Our data also suggest that oxygen consumption rates of this species do not follow mass-dependent scaling, potentially representing a new trait of metabolic optimization in groundwater habitats, which are often limited in food and oxygen. Species with limited dispersal capacities and rigid metabolic guilds face extinction risk due to climate change and omitting groundwater ecosystems from climate change agendas emphasizes the unprotected status of stygofauna.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiziana Di Lorenzo
- Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems of the National Research Council, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze Italy ,grid.418333.e0000 0004 1937 1389Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology, Romanian Academy, Clinicilor 5, 400006 Cluj Napoca, Romania ,grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) & CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Ana Sofia P. S. Reboleira
- grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) & CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal ,grid.5254.60000 0001 0674 042XNatural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
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