Project description:Desert microbial communities live in a pulsed ecosystem shaped by isolated and rare precipitation events. The Namib desert is one of the oldest continuously hyperarid ecosystems on Earth. In this study, surface microbial communities of open soils (without sheltering features like rocks, vegetation or biological soil crusts) are analysed. We designed an artificial rainfall experiment where a 7x7 (3.5 x 3.5 m) plot remained dry while an adjacent one received a 30 mm simulated rain. Samples were taken randomly in parallel from both plots at 10 min, 1 h, 3 h, 7 h, 24 h and 7 days after the watering moment. Duplicate libraries were generated from total (rRNA depleted) RNA and sequenced 2x150 bp in an Illumina Hiseq 4000 instrument.
Project description:This study examined the functional response of a host (zebrafish) to implantation of a conspecific or allospecific (goldfish) gastrointestinal (GIT) microbiome followed by diet manipulation and the repercussions of these manipulations on host GIT physiology. Implantation of a native zebrafish biome successfully reintroduced wildtype (WT) communities with the exception of several rare, phylogenetically distant species. Implantation of a foreign goldfish biome created communities that were distinct from WT, suggesting that the seeding community created substantial differences from the native host communities. A mismatched ?natural? diet and an implanted allospecific biome enriched for rarer and more phylogenetically diverse bacteria. Transcriptional changes within the GIT clustered in relationship to biome treatments, mirroring clustering of biome implants. Implantation of an allospecific biome along with an altered diet markedly down-regulated approximately 70% of the transcripts involved in cholesterol biosynthesis, while tissue content analysis revealed an increase in total tissue cholesterol. Furthermore, transcripts involved in lipogenesis pathways were significantly downregulated and correlated with a striking decrease in intestinal lipase activity driven by both biome and diet. Glucose-6P dehydrogenase (G6PD) activities increased during dietary manipulations regardless of biome, while the allospecific biome down-regulated transcripts involved in gluconeogenesis and altered glucokinase (GK) and hexokinase (HK) activities regardless of diet. However, growth rates did not reveal an impact of these responses. Adult zebrafish are unable to reform proportional representation within bacterial communities following transplantation of an allospecific biome resulting in transcriptional and enzymatic alterations for lipid and carbohydrate metabolism that did not affect overall animal homeostasis.
Project description:Seeds of the desert shrub, jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) are an abundant, renewable source of liquid wax-esters, which are valued additives in cosmetic products and industrial lubricants. Jojoba is relegated to its own taxonomic family, and there is little genetic information available to elucidate its phylogeny. Here we report the high-quality, 887 Mb, genome of jojoba assembled into 26 chromosomes with 23,490 protein-coding genes. The jojoba genome has only the whole-genome triplication (γ) shared among eudicots, and no recent duplications. These genomic resources coupled with extensive transcriptome, proteome and lipidome data helped to define heterogeneous pathways and machinery for lipid synthesis and storage, provided missing evolutionary history information for this taxonomically-segregated dioecious plant species, and will support efforts to improve the agronomic properties of jojoba
2020-03-11 | GSE130603 | GEO
Project description:Simulated precipitation in a desert ecosystem
| PRJNA1099423 | ENA
Project description:Soil fungal composition changes with shrub encroachment in the Chihuahuan Desert