Project description:Regulatory small RNAs (sRNAs) represent a major class of regulatory molecules that play large-scale and essential roles in many cellular processes across all domains of life. Microbial sRNAs have been primarily investigated in a few model organisms and little is known about the dynamics of sRNA synthesis in natural environments, and the roles of these short transcripts at the community level. Analyzing the metatranscriptome of a model extremophilic community inhabiting halite nodules (salt rocks) from the Atacama Desert, sampled over two years with different weather conditions, with SnapT – a new sRNA annotation pipeline – we discovered hundreds of intergenic (itsRNAs) and antisense (asRNAs) sRNAs expressed.
Project description:Conditions of low organic matter content per gram of soil in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, extreme temperatures and high UV radiation, makes it one of the best terrestrial analogue of Mars and one of the best scenarios for testing instrumentation devoted to in situ planetary exploration. We have remotely and automatically operated the SOLID-LDChip, an antibody microarray-based sensor instrument, as part of a rover payload during the 2019 NASA’s ASTEP ARADS Mars drilling simulating campaign. SOLID was loaded with a robotic arm with samples collected down to 80 cm depth and, after sample analysis with LDChip, sent results to a remote science team, to be validated by “omics” techniques.
2024-05-22 | PXD027518 | Pride
Project description:Bacterial genomes form Atacama Desert of Chile
| PRJNA291433 | ENA
Project description:Halite microbial communities from Atacama Desert, Chile