Responses of Cyanobacterial Crusts and Microbial Communities to Extreme Environments of the Stratosphere.

ABSTRACT: How microbial communities respond to extreme conditions in the stratosphere remains unclear. To test this effect, cyanobacterial crusts collected from Tengger Desert were mounted to high balloons and briefly exposed (140 min) to high UV irradiation and low temperature in the stratosphere at an altitude of 32 km. Freezing and thawing treatments were simulated in the laboratory in terms of the temperature fluctuations during flight. Microbial community composition was characterized by sequencing at the level of DNA and RNA. After exposure to the stratosphere, the RNA relative abundances of Kallotenue and Longimicrobium increased by about 2-fold, while those of several dominant cyanobacteria genera changed slightly. The RNA relative abundances of various taxa declined after free

SUBMITTER: Li Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9230428 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature