Co- variation in soil biodiversity and biogeochemistry in northern and southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Data from six sites in Victoria Land (72–77°S) investigating co-variation in soil communities (microbial and invertebrate) with biogeochemical properties showthe influence of soil properties on habitat suitability varied among local landscapes as well as across climate gradients. Species richness of metazoan invertebrates (Nematoda, Tardigrada and Rotifera) was similar to previous descriptions in this region, though identification of three cryptic nematode species of Eudorylaimus through DNA analysis contributed to the understanding of controls over habitat preferences for individual species. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis profiles revealed unexpectedly high diversity of bacteria. Distribution of distinct bacterial communities was associated with specific sites in northern and southern Victoria Land, as was the distribution of nematode and tardigrade species. Variation in soil metazoan communities was related to differences in soil organic matter, while bacterial diversity and community structure were not strongly correlated with any single soil property. There were no apparent correlations between metazoan and bacterial diversity, suggesting that controls over distribution and habitat suitability are different for bacterial and metazoan communities. Our results imply that top-down controls over bacterial diversity mediated by their metazoan consumers are not significant determinants of bacterial community structure and biomass in these ecosystems

Ecological Biogeography of the Terrestrial Nematodes of Victoria Land, Antarctica

The terrestrial ecosystems of Victoria Land, Antarctica are characteristically simple in terms of biological diversity and ecological functioning. Nematodes are the most commonly encountered and abundant metazoans of Victoria Land soils, yet little is known of their diversity and distribution. Herein we present a summary of the geographic distribution, habitats and ecology of the terrestrial nematodes of Victoria Land from published and unpublished sources. All Victoria Land nematodes are endemic to Antarctica, and many are common and widely distributed at landscape scales. However, at smaller spatial scales, populations can have patchy distributions, with the presence or absence of each species strongly influenced by specific habitat requirements. As the frequency of nematode introductions to Antarctica increases, and soil habitats are altered in response to climate change, our current understanding of the environmental parameters associated with the biogeography of Antarctic nematofauna will be crucial to monitoring and possibly mitigating changes to these unique soil ecosystems

An Entomopathogenic Nematode by Any Other Name

Among the diversity of insect-parasitic nematodes, entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are distinct, cooperating with insect-pathogenic bacteria to kill insect hosts. EPNs have adapted specific mechanisms to associate with and transmit bacteria to insect hosts. New discoveries have expanded this guild of nematodes and refine our understanding of the nature and evolution of insect–nematode associations. Here, we clarify the meaning of “entomopathogenic” in nematology and argue that EPNs must rapidly kill their hosts with the aid of bacterial partners and must pass on the associated bacteria to future generations

Ecological Biogeography of the Terrestrial Nematodes of Victoria Land, Antarctica

The terrestrial ecosystems of Victoria Land, Antarctica are characteristically simple in terms of biological diversity and ecological functioning. Nematodes are the most commonly encountered and abundant metazoans of Victoria Land soils, yet little is known of their diversity and distribution. Herein we present a summary of the geographic distribution, habitats and ecology of the terrestrial nematodes of Victoria Land from published and unpublished sources. All Victoria Land nematodes are endemic to Antarctica, and many are common and widely distributed at landscape scales. However, at smaller spatial scales, populations can have patchy distributions, with the presence or absence of each species strongly influenced by specific habitat requirements. As the frequency of nematode introductions to Antarctica increases, and soil habitats are altered in response to climate change, our current understanding of the environmental parameters associated with the biogeography of Antarctic nematofauna will be crucial to monitoring and possibly mitigating changes to these unique soil ecosystems

Transcriptomic analysis of the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora TTO1

Background: The entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and its symbiotic bacterium, Photorhabdus luminescens, are important biological control agents of insect pests. This nematode-bacterium-insect association represents an emerging tripartite model for research on mutualistic and parasitic symbioses. Elucidation of mechanisms underlying these biological processes may serve as a foundation for improving the biological control potential of the nematode-bacterium complex. This large-scale expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis effort enables gene discovery and development of microsatellite markers. These ESTs will also aid in the annotation of the upcoming complete genome sequence of H. bacteriophora. Results: A total of 31,485 high quality ESTs were generated from cDNA libraries of the adult H. bacteriophora TTO1 strain. Cluster analysis revealed the presence of 3,051 contigs and 7,835 singletons, representing 10,886 distinct EST sequences. About 72% of the distinct EST sequences had significant matches (E value < 1e-5) to proteins in GenBank's non-redundant (nr) and Wormpep190 databases. We have identified 12 ESTs corresponding to 8 genes potentially involved in RNA interference, 22 ESTs corresponding to 14 genes potentially involved in dauer-related processes, and 51 ESTs corresponding to 27 genes potentially involved in defense and stress responses. Comparison to ESTs and proteins of free-living nematodes led to the identification of 554 parasitic nematode-specific ESTs in H. bacteriophora, among which are those encoding F-box-like/WD-repeat protein theromacin, Bax inhibitor-1-like protein, and PAZ domain containing protein. Gene Ontology terms were assigned to 6,685 of the 10,886 ESTs. A total of 168 microsatellite loci were identified with primers designable for 141 loci. Conclusion: A total of 10,886 distinct EST sequences were identified from adult H. bacteriophora cDNA libraries. BLAST searches revealed ESTs potentially involved in parasitism, RNA interference, defense responses, stress responses, and dauer-related processes. The putative microsatellite markers identified in H. bacteriophora ESTs will enable genetic mapping and population genetic studies. These genomic resources provide the material base necessary for genome annotation, microarray development, and in-depth gene functional analysis

A rusty record of weathering and groundwater movement in the hyperarid Central Andes

The Atacama Desert, on the western margin of the Central Andes, hosts some of the world's largest porphyry copper deposits (PCDs). Despite a hyperarid climate, many of these PCDs have undergone secondary “supergene” enrichment, whereby copper has been concentrated via groundwater-driven leaching and reprecipitation, yielding supergene profiles containing valuable records of weathering and landscape evolution. We combine hematite (U-Th-Sm)/He geochronology and oxygen isotope analysis to compare the weathering histories of two Andean PCDs and test the relative importance of climate and tectonics in controlling both enrichment and water table movement. At Cerro Colorado, in the Precordillera, hematite precipitation records prolonged weathering from ∼31 to ∼2 Ma, tracking water table descent following aridity-induced canyon incision from the late Miocene onward. By contrast, hematite at Spence, within the Central Depression, is mostly younger than ∼10.5 Ma, suggesting exhumation ended much later. A heavy oxygen isotopic signature for Spence hematite suggests that upwelling formation water has been an important source of groundwater, accounting for a high modern water table despite persistent hyperaridity, whereas isotopically light hematite at Cerro Colorado formed in the presence of meteoric water. Compared with published paleo-environmental and sedimentological records, our data show that weathering can persist beneath appreciable post-exhumation cover, under hyperarid conditions unconducive to enrichment. The susceptibility of each deposit to aridity-induced water table descent, canyon incision and deep weathering has been controlled by recharge characteristics and morphotectonic setting. Erosional exhumation, rather than aridity-induced water table decay, appears to be more important for the development of supergene enrichment

A Lover and a Fighter: The Genome Sequence of an Entomopathogenic Nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora

Heterorhabditis bacteriophora are entomopathogenic nematodes that have evolved a mutualism with Photorhabdus luminescens bacteria to function as highly virulent insect pathogens. The nematode provides a safe harbor for intestinal symbionts in soil and delivers the symbiotic bacteria into the insect blood. The symbiont provides virulence and toxins, metabolites essential for nematode reproduction, and antibiotic preservation of the insect cadaver. Approximately half of the 21,250 putative protein coding genes identified in the 77 Mbp high quality draft H. bacteriophora genome sequence were novel proteins of unknown function lacking homologs in Caenorhabditis elegans or any other sequenced organisms. Similarly, 317 of the 603 predicted secreted proteins are novel with unknown function in addition to 19 putative peptidases, 9 peptidase inhibitors and 7 C-type lectins that may function in interactions with insect hosts or bacterial symbionts. The 134 proteins contained mariner transposase domains, of which there are none in C. elegans, suggesting an invasion and expansion of mariner transposons in H. bacteriophora. Fewer Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Orthologies in almost all metabolic categories were detected in the genome compared with 9 other sequenced nematode genomes, which may reflect dependence on the symbiont or insect host for these functions. The H. bacteriophora genome sequence will greatly facilitate genetics, genomics and evolutionary studies to gain fundamental knowledge of nematode parasitism and mutualism. It also elevates the utility of H. bacteriophora as a bridge species between vertebrate parasitic nematodes and the C. elegans model

Exploring the boundaries of microbial habitability in soil

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Dragone, N. B., Diaz, M. A., Hogg, I., Lyons, W. B., Jackson, W. A., Wall, D. H., Adams, B. J., & Fierer, N. Exploring the boundaries of microbial habitability in soil. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126(6), (2021): e2020JG006052, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG006052.Microbes are widely assumed to be capable of colonizing even the most challenging terrestrial surface environments on Earth given enough time. We would not expect to find surface soils uninhabited by microbes as soils typically harbor diverse microbial communities and viable microbes have been detected in soils exposed to even the most inhospitable conditions. However, if uninhabited soils do exist, we might expect to find them in Antarctica. We analyzed 204 ice-free soils collected from across a remote valley in the Transantarctic Mountains (84–85°S, 174–177°W) and were able to identify a potential limit of microbial habitability. While most of the soils we tested contained diverse microbial communities, with fungi being particularly ubiquitous, microbes could not be detected in many of the driest, higher elevation soils—results that were confirmed using cultivation-dependent, cultivation-independent, and metabolic assays. While we cannot confirm that this subset of soils is completely sterile and devoid of microbial life, our results suggest that microbial life is severely restricted in the coldest, driest, and saltiest Antarctic soils. Constant exposure to these conditions for thousands of years has limited microbial communities so that their presence and activity is below detectable limits using a variety of standard methods. Such soils are unlikely to be unique to the studied region with this work supporting previous hypotheses that microbial habitability is constrained by near-continuous exposure to cold, dry, and salty conditions, establishing the environmental conditions that limit microbial life in terrestrial surface soils.This work was supported by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation (ANT 1341629 to B. J. Adams, N. Fierer, W. Berry Lyons, and D. H. Wall and OPP 1637708 to B. J. Adams) with additional support provided to N. B. Dragone from University Colorado Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology