Project ended after 1st Phase
Protist evolution at the dry limit
Research areas: Protistology, ecology, microbiome, aquatic ecology, evolutionary ecology
Principal investigators: Prof. Dr. Hartmut Arndt, Prof. Dr. Thomas Wiehe
Project Info: Phase 1
Unicellular eukaryotes are potentially fast evolving organisms. The small size of protists, their ability to form cysts as well as their adaptability to extreme conditions allow them to associate to endemic animals, plants, saline lakes and soil even in extremely arid systems. These properties make unicellular eukaryotes ideal model organisms to combine studies on evolutionary processes connected with the evolution of very different groups of organisms and across very different time scales comprising even geological time scales. The hyperaridic Atacama Desert offers a study area unique on earth, where conditions have been constant for millions of years.
The first aim of the project is to compare patterns of population genetic diversity of symbiotic protists associated to the gut of endemic insect populations, which are genetically separated to varying degrees, with those of their host populations (project B02). The second aim is the analysis of protist populations associated to the specific microbiome (B04) and the root systems of endemic desert plants (B01, B05). Third, we will analyse protist populations which are endemic to salars in the Atacama known for extremely high salinities and highly fragmented habitats surrounded by a nearly sterile desert (clusters A, C, D). We will use state of the art molecular and bioinformatic tools, as well as modern cultivation and isolation techniques and morphological characterizations, to explore evolutionary and co-evolutionary processes of populations and species in extremely arid environments. Close co-operation with entomologists (B02), botanists (B01), microbiologists (B04) and soil specialists (B05) as well as geologists (clusters A, C, D) and local cooperations in Antofagasta offer an extraordinary backbone for the studies.
Former members:
- Prof. Dr. Hartmut Arndt (Principal Investigator)
- Prof. Dr. Thomas Wiehe (Principal Investigator)
- Dr. Frank Nitsche (Scientist)
- Bärbel Jendral (Secretary)
Publications
Project B3 - Publications
Articles
Acosta, E., Nitsche, F., Dorador, C., Arndt, H., 2023.
Protist communities of microbial mats from extreme environments of five saline Andean lagoons at high elevation in the Atacama Desert.
Frontiers of Microbiology. 1 - 25.
Arndt, H., Nitsche, F., Carduck, S., Rybarski, A., Hohlfeld, M., 2021.
Diversity and phylogeny of percolomonads based on newly discoveredspecies from hypersaline and marine waters.
European Journal of Protistology. 80, 1 - 15.
Schiwitza, S., Arndt, H., Nitsche, F., 2021.
Extended divergence estimates and species descriptions of new craspedid choanoflagellates from the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile.
European Journal of Protistology. 79, 1 - 11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2021.125798.
Heger, P., Ragionieri, L., Predel, R., Wiehe, T., 2020.
Rapid evolution of novel genes in a desert-colonizing beetle lineage (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Submitted to Genome Biology on 05022020.
Genome Biology. 1 - 45.
Heger, P., Zheng, W., Rottmann, A., Panfilio, K. A., Wiehe, T., 2020.
The genetic factors of bilaterian evolution.
eLife. 9, 1 - 41.
Nitsche, F., Arndt, H., Schönle, A., 2020.
Global comparison of bicosoecid Cafeteria-like flagellates from the deep ocean and surface waters, with reorganization of the family Cafeteriaceae.
European Journal of Protistology. 73, 32767 - 32767.
Arndt, H., Ritter, B., Rybarski, A., Schiwitza, S., Dunai, T., Nitsche, F., 2019.
Mirroring the effect of geological evolution: Protist speciation in the Atacama Desert.
Global Planetary Change. 1 - 30.
Carduck, S., Nitsche, F., Rybarski, A., Arndt, H., 2019.
Diversity and phylogeny of percolomonads based on newly discovered species from hypersaline and marine waters.
European Journal of Protistology. 1 - 30.
Nitsche, F., Carduck, S., Johanna, A., Podobnik, M., Dorador, C., Predel, R., Rückert, S., Arndt, H., 2019.
First records of gregarines (Apicomplexa) from the Atacama Desert: Atacamagregarina gen. nov. associated with Scotobius and Psectrascelis (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae).
European Journal of Protistology. 1 - 32.
Schiwitza, S., Nitsche, F., Arndt, H., 2019.
First description of an euryoecious acanthoecid choanoflagellate species, Enibas tolerabilis gen. et sp. nov. from a salar in the Chilean Andes based on morphological and transcriptomic data.
European Journal of Protistology. 67, 106 - 113. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2018.11.004.
Schiwitza, S., Arndt, H., Nitsche, F., 2019.
Four new choanoflagellate species from extreme saline environments: Indication for isolation-driven speciation exemplified by highly adapted Craspedida from salt flats in the Atacama Desert (Northern Chile).
European Journal of Protistology. 66, 86 - 96. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2018.08.001.
Schönle, A., Hohlfeld, M., Rosse, M., Filz, P., Wylezich, C., Nitsche, F., Arndt, H., 2019.
Global comparison of bicosoecid Cafeteria-like flagellates from the deep ocean and surface waters, with revision of the family Cafeteriaceae.
European Journal of Protistology. 1 - 46.
Soliveres, S., van der Plas, F., Manning, P., Prati, D., Gossner, M., Renner, S., Alt, F., Arndt, H., 2019.
Biodiversity at multiple trophic levels is needed for ecosystem multifunctionality.
Nature. 536, 456 - 471.
Venter, P., Nitsche, F., Domonell, A., Heger, P., Arndt, H., 2019.
The Protistan Microbiome of Grassland Soil: Diversity in the Mesoscale.
Protist. 168, 546 - 654.
Zheng, Y., Wiehe, T., 2019.
Adaptation in structured populations and fuzzy boundaries between hard and soft sweeps.
PLoS Computational Biology. 15 (11), 32767 - 32767.
Event Paper
Lang, C., Arndt, H., 2019.
Investigations of protists in aeroplankton in the Atacama Desert.
Proc. of Bachelorthesis, March 11 - August 22, 2018, Cologne, 1 - 93.
Presentations
Project B3 - Presentations
Selected type
Data
Project B3 - Research Data
Heger, P., 2020.
Heger P, Ragionieri L, Predel R and Wiehe T. Rapid evolution of novel genes in a desert-colonizing beetle lineage (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Intermediate Data Files 1-7.
CRC1211 Database (CRC1211DB).
Heger, P., 2020.
Heger P, Ragionieri L, Predel R and Wiehe T. Rapid evolution of novel genes in a desert-colonizing beetle lineage (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Supplementary Files 1-7.
CRC1211 Database (CRC1211DB).
Zheng, Y., Wiehe, T., 2019.
Raw simulation output: SLiM simulation files, m0G (panmictic population).
CRC1211 Database (CRC1211DB).
Zheng, Y., Wiehe, T., 2019.
Raw simulation output: R simulation files.
CRC1211 Database (CRC1211DB).
Merklinger, F., Zheng, Y., Luebert, F., Harpke, D., Böhnert, T., Stoll, A., Koch, M., Blattner, F., Wiehe, T., Quandt, D., 2019.
Sample locations and GBS output files for analysing the population genomics of Tillandsia landbeckii.
CRC1211 Database (CRC1211DB). DOI: 10.5880/CRC1211DB.27.
Arndt, H., 2019.
Investigations of protists in aeroplankton in the Atacama Desert.
CRC1211 Database (CRC1211DB).
