Project description:The Chiquini and Galaxias caves contain speleothems that are templated by long fungal structures. They have been associated with the carbonate lacustrine deposits in the margins of the Coipasa and Uyuni Salar basins. During a wetter episode, such carbonates formed at the end of the last glaciation raising the lake level to more than 100 m in the Tauca events (15-12 ky). Such an event flooded the caves that eventually became a cryptic habitat in the lake. The caves show bizarre speleothems framed by large (>1 m) fungal buildings covering the older algal mineralized structures. Although the origin of the caves is not fully understood, the occurrence of two carbonatic units with very distinctive fabric suggests that they formed in two separated humid events. In this regard, the mineralized algal structures, showing the same features as the lacustrine carbonates, likely formed during the Tauca flooding events in the terminal Pleistocene that inundated older caves. The different caves were exposed to the atmosphere after a drop in the lake level that promoted alluvial erosion by <12-10 ky (Ticaña episode) under arid conditions. A last humid episode rising the lake surface 10 m above the Salar level, which was not enough to inundate the caves a second time, drove the formation of the biospeleothems by fungi biomineralization. The abundance and size of the preserved fungal structures suggest that they were sustained by a stable hydrological activity plus a constant organic supply. While nutrients could have been primarily sourced from the vegetal communities that occupied the exhumated lake margins, they might have also been released from the lacustrine carbonatic unit. The combination of hydrology and biological activities were likely determinants for a fast rock dissolution and mineralization ending in the construction of the fungal biospeleothems.

| S-EPMC9260512 | biostudies-literature

16S rRNA Gene Diversity in the Salt Crust of Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, the World's Largest Salt Flat.

Project description:Salar de Uyuni is a vast, high-altitude salt flat in Bolivia with extreme physico-geochemical properties approaching multiple limits of life. Evidence for diverse halophilic bacteria and archaea was found in its surface and near-surface salt crust using 16S amplicon analysis, providing a snapshot of prokaryotic life.

| S-EPMC7242672 | biostudies-literature

Genome Sequence of <i>Halobacterium</i> sp. Strain BOL4-2, Isolated and Cultured from Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.

Project description:Halobacterium sp. strain BOL4-2 was isolated from an Andean salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, in Bolivia. Single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing revealed a 2.4-Mbp genome with a 2.0-Mbp chromosome and four plasmids (2 to 299 kb). Its isolation from an environment experiencing multiple extremes makes the strain interesting for astrobiology.

| S-EPMC8638584 | biostudies-literature

Halophilic lake

Project description:Halophilic lake Metagenome

| PRJNA796113 | ENA

halophilic archaeon

Project description:halophilic archaea overview

| PRJNA527909 | ENA

Genome Sequence and Methylation Patterns of Halorubrum sp. Strain BOL3-1, the First Haloarchaeon Isolated and Cultured from Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.

Project description:Halorubrum sp. strain BOL3-1 was isolated from Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, and sequenced using single-molecule real-time sequencing. Its 3.7-Mbp genome was analyzed for gene content and methylation patterns and incorporated into the Haloarchaeal Genomes Database (http://halo.umbc.edu). The polyextremophilic character and high-elevation environment make the microbe of interest for astrobiology.

| S-EPMC6509532 | biostudies-literature

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