Ancient origins determine global biogeography of hot and cold desert cyanobacteria

Factors governing large-scale spatio-temporal distribution of microorganisms remain unresolved, yet are pivotal to understanding ecosystem value and function. Molecular genetic analyses have focused on the influence of niche and neutral processes in determining spatial patterns without considering the temporal scale. Here, we use temporal phylogenetic analysis calibrated using microfossil data for a globally sampled desert cyanobacterium, Chroococcidiopsis, to investigate spatio-temporal patterns in microbial biogeography and evolution. Multilocus phylogenetic associations were dependent on contemporary climate with no evidence for distance-related patterns. Massively parallel pyrosequencing of environmental samples confirmed that Chroococcidiopsis variants were specific to either hot or cold deserts. Temporally scaled phylogenetic analyses showed no evidence of recent inter-regional gene flow, indicating populations have not shared common ancestry since before the formation of modern continents. These results indicate that global distribution of desert cyanobacteria has not resulted from widespread contemporary dispersal but is an ancient evolutionary legacy. This highlights the importance of considering temporal scales in microbial biogeography

Modified f(R) gravity from scalar-tensor theory and inhomogeneous EoS dark energy

The reconstruction of f(R)-gravity is showed by using an auxiliary scalar field in the context of cosmological evolution, this development provide a way of reconstruct the form of the function f (R) for a given evolution of the Hubble parameter. In analogy, f(R)-gravity may be expressed by a perfect fluid with an inhomogeneous equation of state that depends on the Hubble parameter and its derivatives. This mathematical equivalence that may confuse about the origin of the mechanism that produces the current acceleration, and possibly the whole evolution of the Hubble parameter, is shown here.Comment: 8 page