Environmental control on the distribution of metabolic strategies of benthic microbial mats in Lake Fryxell, Antarctica.

ABSTRACT: Ecological theories posit that heterogeneity in environmental conditions greatly affects community structure and function. However, the degree to which ecological theory developed using plant- and animal-dominated systems applies to microbiomes is unclear. Investigating the metabolic strategies found in microbiomes are particularly informative for testing the universality of ecological theories because microorganisms have far wider metabolic capacity than plants and animals. We used metagenomic analyses to explore the relationships between the energy and physicochemical gradients in Lake Fryxell and the metabolic capacity of its benthic microbiome. Statistical analysis of the relative abundance of metabolic marker genes and gene family diversity shows that oxygenic photosynthesis, carbon f

SUBMITTER: Dillon ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7153904 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature