Redox-dependent niche differentiation provides evidence for multiple bacterial sources of glycerol tetraether lipids in lakes.

ABSTRACT: Terrestrial paleoclimate archives such as lake sediments are essential for our understanding of the continental climate system and for the modeling of future climate scenarios. However, quantitative proxies for the determination of paleotemperatures are sparse. The relative abundances of certain bacterial lipids, i.e., branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs), respond to changes in environmental temperature, and thus have great potential for climate reconstruction. Their application to lake deposits, however, is hampered by the lack of fundamental knowledge on the ecology of brGDGT-producing microbes in lakes. Here, we show that brGDGTs are synthesized by multiple groups of bacteria thriving under contrasting redox regimes in a deep meromictic Swiss lake (Lake Lugano). This

SUBMITTER: Weber Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6205439 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature