Survival and rapid resuscitation permit limited productivity in desert microbial communities

Microbial activity in drylands tends to be confined to rare and short periods of rain. Rapid growth should be key to the maintenance of ecosystem processes in such narrow activity windows, if desiccation and rehydration cause widespread cell death due to osmotic stress. Here, simulating rain with 2...

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Published in:Nature communications 2024-04, Vol.15 (1), p.3056-17, Article 3056
Main Authors: Imminger, Stefanie, Meier, Dimitri V., Schintlmeister, Arno, Legin, Anton, Schnecker, Jörg, Richter, Andreas, Gillor, Osnat, Eichorst, Stephanie A., Woebken, Dagmar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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38/90
38/91
631/326/171/1818
631/326/2565/855
Arid lands
Arid zones
Biological activity
Cell death
Deserts
Desiccation
Ecological function
Ecosystems
Genomes
Humanities and Social Sciences
Maintenance
Microbial activity
Microbiomes
Microorganisms
multidisciplinary
Osmotic stress
Productivity
Rain
Rainfall
Rehydration
Resuscitation
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Soil moisture
Stable isotopes
Survival
Taxonomy
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Summary:Microbial activity in drylands tends to be confined to rare and short periods of rain. Rapid growth should be key to the maintenance of ecosystem processes in such narrow activity windows, if desiccation and rehydration cause widespread cell death due to osmotic stress. Here, simulating rain with 2 H 2 O followed by single-cell NanoSIMS, we show that biocrust microbial communities in the Negev Desert are characterized by limited productivity, with median replication times of 6 to 19 days and restricted number of days allowing growth. Genome-resolved metatranscriptomics reveals that nearly all microbial populations resuscitate within minutes after simulated rain, independent of taxonomy, and invest their activity into repair and energy generation. Together, our data reveal a community that makes optimal use of short activity phases by fast and universal resuscitation enabling the maintenance of key ecosystem functions. We conclude that desert biocrust communities are highly adapted to surviving rapid changes in soil moisture and solute concentrations, resulting in high persistence that balances limited productivity. Prompt physiological reactivation after rainfall pulses may be key for microbial survival in arid ecosystems. Here, the authors use stable isotope tracers, single-cell NanoSIMS and metatranscriptomics to shed light on how desert biocrust microbial communities respond to rewetting.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-46920-6