{
  "abstract": "Microbial genomes code for far more biosynthetic potential than a single cell typically expresses, but the environmental and cellular controls that determine whether the latent capacity is realised remain poorly understood. Biosurfactants, surface-active metabolites proposed to aid survival in cold and saline habitats, exemplify this gap: capacity is often inferred from genomes or detected chemically, but is rarely linked to the specific conditions that stimulate its production in the same organisms. Here we combine whole-genome sequencing, untargeted LC-MS/MS metabolomics, and quantitative surface-tension assays across 25 bacterial isolates isolated from the cold, hypersaline Qaidam Basin (a terrestrial analogue for ancient Mars) and contrasting marine environments. We show that biosurfactant production is not a fixed lineage trait but a regulated, strain-specific response that emerges under combined cold and salt stress. This response is structured into three tiers: genomic capacity defines the accessible chemical space; the genomic complement of pathway-regulator genes tracks responsiveness; strain-level physiological state determines realised output. Regulatory-gene content, rather than biosynthetic-cluster count, predicted surfactant production across strains. Production was amplified by low temperature and high salinity and showed little phylogenetic signal, with near-clonal strains differing in their stress-response. These findings reshape biochemical adaptation in extreme environments as a problem of conditional activation, not only of genomic potential, but of cellular systems that permit its expression, which requires looking beyond biosynthetic-gene content to the cellular factors that determine whether that potential is expressed.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Extraterrestrial Ocean Systems, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "H. Ullah"
    },
    {
      "name": "Z. Han"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "M. C. Y. Lau Vetter"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/81sc423k53bnt.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.19.760052",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.760052v1.full",
  "id": "81sc423k53bnt",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.760052v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "microbiology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2310|Microbial bioremediation and biosurfactants"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223153193",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.760052v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-19",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/81sc423k53bnt.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:28:58Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.19.760052",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.760052v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:microbiology",
      "subfield": "microbiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Biosurfactant production under cold-saline stress is a strain specific trait independent from phylogeny and biosynthetic gene content",
  "title_text": "Biosurfactant production under cold-saline stress is a strain specific trait independent from phylogeny and biosynthetic gene content",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:28:58Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/81sc423k53bnt",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}