Dataset Information

Adaptation to Extreme Environments in an Admixed Human Population from the Atacama Desert.

ABSTRACT: Inorganic arsenic (As) is a toxic xenobiotic and carcinogen associated with severe health conditions. The urban population from the Atacama Desert in northern Chile was exposed to extremely high As levels (up to 600?µg/l) in drinking water between 1958 and 1971, leading to increased incidence of urinary bladder cancer (BC), skin cancer, kidney cancer, and coronary thrombosis decades later. Besides, the Andean Native-American ancestors of the Atacama population were previously exposed for millennia to elevated As levels in water (?120?µg/l) for at least 5,000?years, suggesting adaptation to this selective pressure. Here, we performed two genome-wide selection tests-PBSn1 and an ancestry-enrichment test-in an admixed population from Atacama, to identify adaptation signatures to As exposure acquired before and after admixture with Europeans, respectively. The top second variant selected by PBSn1 was associated with LCE4A-C1orf68, a gene that may be involved in the immune barrier of the epithelium during BC. We performed association tests between the top PBSn1 hits and BC occurrence in our population. The strongest association (P?=?0.012) was achieved by the LCE4A-C1orf68 variant. The ancestry-enrichment test detected highly significant signals (P?=?1.3 × 10-9) mapping MAK16, a gene with important roles in ribosome biogenesis during the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the genetic factors involved in adaptation to the pathophysiological consequences of As exposure.

SUBMITTER: Vicuna L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6733355 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Adaptation to Extreme Environments in an Admixed Human Population from the Atacama Desert.

Vicuña Lucas L Fernandez Mario I MI Vial Cecilia C Valdebenito Patricio P Chaparro Eduardo E Espinoza Karena K Ziegler Annemarie A Bustamante Alberto A Eyheramendy Susana S

Genome biology and evolution 20190901 9

Inorganic arsenic (As) is a toxic xenobiotic and carcinogen associated with severe health conditions. The urban population from the Atacama Desert in northern Chile was exposed to extremely high As levels (up to 600 µg/l) in drinking water between 1958 and 1971, leading to increased incidence of urinary bladder cancer (BC), skin cancer, kidney cancer, and coronary thrombosis decades later. Besides, the Andean Native-American ancestors of the Atacama population were previously exposed for millenn ...[more]

PMID: 31384924

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Project description:The Atacama Desert, northern Chile, is one of the driest deserts on Earth and, as such, a natural laboratory to explore the limits of life and the strategies evolved by microorganisms to adapt to extreme environments. Here we report the exceptional adaptation strategies of chlorophototrophic and eukaryotic algae, and chlorophototrophic and prokaryotic cyanobacteria to the hyperarid and extremely high solar radiation conditions occurring in this desert. Our approach combined several microscopy techniques, spectroscopic analytical methods, and molecular analyses. We found that the major adaptation strategy was to avoid the extreme environmental conditions by colonizing cryptoendolithic, as well as, hypoendolithic habitats within gypsum deposits. The cryptoendolithic colonization occurred a few millimeters beneath the gypsum surface and showed a succession of organized horizons of algae and cyanobacteria, which has never been reported for endolithic microbial communities. The presence of cyanobacteria beneath the algal layer, in close contact with sepiolite inclusions, and their hypoendolithic colonization suggest that occasional liquid water might persist within these sub-microhabitats. We also identified the presence of abundant carotenoids in the upper cryptoendolithic algal habitat and scytonemin in the cyanobacteria hypoendolithic habitat. This study illustrates that successful lithobiontic microbial colonization at the limit for microbial life is the result of a combination of adaptive strategies to avoid excess solar irradiance and extreme evapotranspiration rates, taking advantage of the complex structural and mineralogical characteristics of gypsum deposits-conceptually called "rock's habitable architecture." Additionally, self-protection by synthesis and accumulation of secondary metabolites likely produces a shielding effect that prevents photoinhibition and lethal photooxidative damage to the chlorophototrophs, representing another level of adaptation.

Dataset Information

Adaptation to Extreme Environments in an Admixed Human Population from the Atacama Desert.

Publications

Adaptation to Extreme Environments in an Admixed Human Population from the Atacama Desert.

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