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Comparative analysis of cyanobacteria inhabiting rocks with different light transmittance in the Mojave Desert: a Mars terrestrial analogue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2014

Heather D. Smith ,
Mickael Baqué ,
Andrew G. Duncan ,
Christopher R. Lloyd Open the ORCID record for Christopher R. Lloyd [Opens in a new window] ,
Christopher P. McKay  and
Daniela Billi
Heather D. Smith
Affiliation:
Biological Engineering Department, UMC 4105, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA Space Science Division, M/S 245-3, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
Mickael Baqué
Affiliation:
Department of Biology University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Via della Ricerca Scientifica snc 00133 Rome, Italy
Andrew G. Duncan
Affiliation:
Micro Bio Systems of Utah, Logan, UT 84341, USA
Christopher R. Lloyd
Affiliation:
Micro Bio Systems of Utah, Logan, UT 84341, USA
Christopher P. McKay
Affiliation:
Space Science Division, M/S 245-3, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
Daniela Billi*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Via della Ricerca Scientifica snc 00133 Rome, Italy
*
e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Mojave Desert has been long considered a suitable terrestrial analogue to Mars in many geological and astrobiological aspects. The Silver Lake region in the Mojave Desert hosts several different rock types (talc, marble, quartz, white carbonate and red-coated carbonate) colonized by hypoliths within a few kilometres. This provides an opportunity to investigate the effect of rock type on hypolithic colonization in a given environment. Transmission measurements from 300 to 800 nm showed that the transmission of blue and UVA varied between rock types. The wavelength at which the transmission fell to 1% of the transmission at 600 nm was 475 nm for white carbonate and quartz, 425 nm for red-coated carbonate and talc and 380 nm for marble. The comparative analysis of the cyanobacterial component of hypoliths under different rocks, as revealed by sequencing 16S rRNA gene clone libraries, showed no significant variation with rock type; hypoliths were dominated by phylotypes of the genus Chroococcidiopsis, although less abundant phylotypes of the genus Loriellopsis, Leptolyngbya and Scytonema occurred. The comparison of the confocal laser scanning microscopy-λ (CLSM-λ) scan analysis of the spectral emission of the photosynthetic pigments of Chroococcidiopsis in different rocks with the spectrum of isolated Chroococcidiopsis sp. 029, revealed a 10 nm red shift in the emission fingerprinting for quartz and carbonate and a 5 nm red shift for talc samples. This result reflects the versatility of Chroococcidiopsis in inhabiting dry niches with different light availability for photosynthesis.

Keywords

astrobiologyChroococcidiopsishypolithslight transmissionMars analogueMojave Desertphototrophs
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , July 2014 , pp. 271 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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