Adaptation of microbialite-associated prokaryotic communities to natural and experimental anoxic conditions
Abstract
Microbialites are rocks formed by microbial communities that influence, promote, and/or control the precipitation of mineral phases. The oldest microbialites date back to the Archean and formed under globally anoxic conditions. Accordingly, modern microbialites developing under oxic conditions are limited analogs of their earliest predecessors. We discovered microbialites in the deep, seasonally anoxic water column of crater lakes Alchichica and Atexcac (Mexico). We studied the prokaryotic communities of plankton and microbialites from oxic and anoxic layers, alongside the temporal dynamics of microbialite communities incubated under strict continuous anoxia. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing showed shifts in the relative abundance of taxa under anoxia, rather than changes in overall diversity. Regardless of their original depth, microbialite‐associated communities from oxic and anoxic zones converged after ~25 weeks of laboratory exposure to a N 2 ‐H 2 ‐CO 2 (85:10:5) atmosphere. Sequences assigned to likely anoxygenic photosynthetic taxa, notably within the Alpha‐ and Gammaproteobacteria, together with phyla associated with sulfate‐reduction and other sulfur‐cycling bacteria, increased in relative abundance. We isolated seven bacterial strains under anoxia, some of them biomineralizing. Several of these strains were cyanobacteria affiliated with the Leptolyngbyales, suggesting that they either continue to perform oxygenic photosynthesis or, hypothetically, switch to H 2 S‐dependent anoxygenic photosynthesis. Our results indicate that these microbialite communities adapt to long‐term anoxia (more than 70 weeks) under laboratory conditions, likely sustaining photosynthetic alkalinization and carbonate precipitation under such conditions.
Related
- Experimental evolution of root-associated microbial communities
- Virus-mediated prokaryotic community adaptation dynamics under thermal stress in municipal organic solid waste microbiomes
- Particle-Associated Prokaryotic Community Structures in the Bering and Chukchi Seas
- Formation and preservation mechanisms of ultra-deep microbialite-dominated reservoirs in the ediacaran dengying formation from the central to Northern Sichuan Basin, SW China
- Place-based climate adaptation: How Atlantic Canadian communities translate local knowledge into action
BibTeX
@article{caumartin2026adaptation,
title = {{Adaptation of microbialite-associated prokaryotic communities to natural and experimental anoxic conditions}},
author = {Jeanne Caumartin and Karim Benzerara and Ana Gutiérrez‐preciado and Miguel Iniesto and Paola Bertolino and Maria Ciobanu and Christophe Thomazo and Robin Havas and Didier Jézéquel and Philippe Deschamps and Rosaluz Tavera and David Moreira and Purificaciόn Lόpez-Garcίa},
journal = {Geobiology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1111/gbi.70064},
url = {https://ube.hal.science/hal-05766532v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Adaptation of microbialite-associated prokaryotic communities to natural and experimental anoxic conditions
AU - Jeanne Caumartin
AU - Karim Benzerara
AU - Ana Gutiérrez‐preciado
AU - Miguel Iniesto
AU - Paola Bertolino
AU - Maria Ciobanu
AU - Christophe Thomazo
AU - Robin Havas
AU - Didier Jézéquel
AU - Philippe Deschamps
AU - Rosaluz Tavera
AU - David Moreira
AU - Purificaciόn Lόpez-Garcίa
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
JO - Geobiology
DO - 10.1111/gbi.70064
UR - https://ube.hal.science/hal-05766532v1
AB - Microbialites are rocks formed by microbial communities that influence, promote, and/or control the precipitation of mineral phases. The oldest microbialites date back to the Archean and formed under globally anoxic conditions. Accordingly, modern microbialites developing under oxic conditions are limited analogs of their earliest predecessors. We discovered microbialites in the deep, seasonally anoxic water column of crater lakes Alchichica and Atexcac (Mexico). We studied the prokaryotic communities of plankton and microbialites from oxic and anoxic layers, alongside the temporal dynamics of microbialite communities incubated under strict continuous anoxia. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing showed shifts in the relative abundance of taxa under anoxia, rather than changes in overall diversity. Regardless of their original depth, microbialite‐associated communities from oxic and anoxic zones converged after ~25 weeks of laboratory exposure to a N 2 ‐H 2 ‐CO 2 (85:10:5) atmosphere. Sequences assigned to likely anoxygenic photosynthetic taxa, notably within the Alpha‐ and Gammaproteobacteria, together with phyla associated with sulfate‐reduction and other sulfur‐cycling bacteria, increased in relative abundance. We isolated seven bacterial strains under anoxia, some of them biomineralizing. Several of these strains were cyanobacteria affiliated with the Leptolyngbyales, suggesting that they either continue to perform oxygenic photosynthesis or, hypothetically, switch to H 2 S‐dependent anoxygenic photosynthesis. Our results indicate that these microbialite communities adapt to long‐term anoxia (more than 70 weeks) under laboratory conditions, likely sustaining photosynthetic alkalinization and carbonate precipitation under such conditions.
SN - 1472-4677
SN - 1472-4669
ER -