Plant ecological genomics at the limits of life in the Atacama Desert

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dc.contributor.authorEshel, Gil
dc.contributor.authorAraus, Viviana
dc.contributor.authorUndurraga, Soledad
dc.contributor.authorSoto, Daniela C.
dc.contributor.authorMoraga, Carol
dc.contributor.authorMontecinos, Alejandro
dc.contributor.authorMoyano, Tomas
dc.contributor.authorMaldonado, Jonathan
dc.contributor.authorFrancisca P.
dc.contributor.authorVarala, Kranthi
dc.contributor.authorNelson, Chase W.
dc.contributor.authorContreras-Lopez, Orlando
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-02T20:12:36Z
dc.date.available2024-07-02T20:12:36Z
dc.date.issued2021-11-16
dc.descriptionIndexación: Scopus.
dc.description.abstractThe Atacama Desert in Chile-hyperarid and with high-ultraviolet irradiance levels-is one of the harshest environments on Earth. Yet, dozens of species grow there, including Atacama-endemic plants. Herein, we establish the Talabre-Lejia transect (TLT) in the Atacama as an unparalleled natural laboratory to study plant adaptation to extreme environmental conditions. We characterized climate, soil, plant, and soil-microbe diversity at 22 sites (every 100 m of altitude) along the TLT over a 10-y period. We quantified drought, nutrient deficiencies, large diurnal temperature oscillations, and pH gradients that define three distinct vegetational belts along the altitudinal cline. We deep-sequenced transcriptomes of 32 dominant plant species spanning the major plant clades, and assessed soil microbes by metabarcoding sequencing. The top-expressed genes in the 32 Atacama species are enriched in stress responses, metabolism, and energy production. Moreover, their root-associated soils are enriched in growthpromoting bacteria, including nitrogen fixers. To identify genes associated with plant adaptation to harsh environments, we compared 32 Atacama species with the 32 closest sequenced species, comprising 70 taxa and 1,686,950 proteins. To perform phylogenomic reconstruction, we concatenated 15,972 ortholog groups into a supermatrix of 8,599,764 amino acids. Using two codonbased methods, we identified 265 candidate positively selected genes (PSGs) in the Atacama plants, 64% of which are located in Pfam domains, supporting their functional relevance. For 59/184 PSGs with an Arabidopsis ortholog, we uncovered functional evidence linking them to plant resilience. As some Atacama plants are closely related to staple crops, these candidate PSGs are a "genetic goldmine" to engineer crop resilience to face climate change.
dc.description.urihttps://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2101177118
dc.identifier.citationProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Volume 118, Issue 46 16 November 2021 Article number e2101177118
dc.identifier.doi10.1073/pnas.2101177118
dc.identifier.issn0027-8424
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositorio.unab.cl/handle/ria/58171
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherNational Academy of Sciences
dc.rights.licenseATRIBUCIÓN-NOCOMERCIAL-SINDERIVADAS 4.0 INTERNACIONAL
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.es
dc.subjectAdaptation
dc.subjectDesert
dc.subjectEvolution
dc.subjectMicrobiome
dc.subjectStress
dc.titlePlant ecological genomics at the limits of life in the Atacama Desert
dc.typeArtículo
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