Pavilion Lake Microbialites: Morphological, Molecular and Biochemical Evidence for a Cold-Water Transition to Colonial Aggregates

Life

Dirk Schulze-Makuch⁶  Darlene Lim²  Bernard Laval¹  Carol Turse⁶  Marina Resendes de Sousa António⁶  Olivia Chan⁵  Stephen B. Pointing⁵  Allyson Brady⁴  Donnie Reid³ 

[1] Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada; E-Mail:;NASA Ames Research Center, Mail-Stop 245-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA; E-Mail:;Nuytco Research Ltd, 216 East Esplanade, North Vancouver, BC, V7L 1A3, Canada; E-Mail:;Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada; E-Mail:;School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hongkong, Hongkong; E-Mails:;School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA; E-Mails:

关键词: microbialite;    community;    stromatolite;    quorum sensing;    biomass;    biodiversity;    ecology;   

DOI  :  10.3390/life3010021

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The presence of microbialite structures in a freshwater, dimictic mid-latitude lake and their establishment after the last ice age about 10,000 years ago is puzzling. Freshwater calcite microbialites at Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada, consist of a complex community of microorganisms that collectively form large, ordered structured aggregates. This distinctive assemblage of freshwater calcite microbialites was studied through standard microbial methods, morphological observations, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, DNA sequencing and the identification of quorum sensing molecules. Our results suggest that the microbialites may represent a transitional form from the exclusively prokaryotic colonial precursors of stromatolites to the multicellular organismic aggregates that give rise to coral reefs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.