Browsing by Author "Moyano, Tomas"

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    Nakazawaea atacamensis f.a., sp. nov. a novel nonconventional fermentative ascomycetous yeast species from the Atacama Desert
    (2024) Araya, Macarena; Villarreal, Pablo; Moyano, Tomas; Santos, Ana R. O.; Diaz, Francisca P.; Bustos-Jarufe, Andrea; Urbina, Kamila; del Pino, Javier E.; Groenewald, Marizeth; Gutierrez, Rodrigo A.; Rosa, Carlos A.; Cubillos, Francisco A.
    In this study, we describe Nakazawaea atacamensis f. a., sp. nov., a novel species obtained from Neltuma chilensis plant samples in Chile's hyperarid Atacama Desert. In total, three strains of N. atacamensis were obtained from independent N. chilensis samples (synonym Prosopis chilensis, Algarrobo). Two strains were obtained from bark samples, while the third strain was obtained from bark-exuded gum from another tree. The novel species was defined using molecular characteristics and subsequently characterized with respect to morphological, physiological, and biochemical properties. A neighbor-joining analysis using the sequences of the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene revealed that N. atacamensis clustered with Nakazawaea pomicola. The sequence of N. atacamensis differed from closely related species by 1.3%-5.2% in the D1/D2 domains. A phylogenomic analysis based on single-nucleotide polymorphism's data confirms that the novel species belongs to the genus Nakazawaea, where N. atacamensis clustered with N. peltata. Phenotypic comparisons demonstrated that N. atacamensis exhibited distinct carbon assimilation patterns compared to its related species. Genome sequencing of the strain ATA-11A-BT revealed a genome size of approximately 12.4 Mbp, similar to other Nakazawaea species, with 5116 protein-coding genes annotated using InterProScan. In addition, N. atacamensis exhibited the capacity to ferment synthetic wine must, representing a potential new yeast for mono or co-culture wine fermentations. This comprehensive study expands our understanding of the genus Nakazawaea and highlights the ecological and industrial potential of N. atacamensis in fermentation processes. The holotype of N. atacamensis sp. nov. is CBS 18375T. The Mycobank number is MB 849680.
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    Plant ecological genomics at the limits of life in the Atacama Desert
    (2021) Eshel, Gil; Araus, Viviana; Undurraga, Soledad; Soto, Daniela C.; Moraga, Carol; Montecinos, Alejandro; Moyano, Tomas; Maldonado, Jonathan; Diaz, Francisca P.; Varala, Kranthi; Nelson, Chase W.; Contreras-Lopez, Orlando; Pal-Gabor, Henrietta; Kraiser, Tatiana; Carrasco-Puga, Gabriela; Nilo-Poyanco, Ricardo; Zegar, Charles M.; Orellana, Ariel; Montecino, Martin; Maass, Alejandro; Allende, Miguel L.; DeSalle, Robert; Stevenson, Dennis W.; Gonzalez, Mauricio; Latorre, Claudio; Coruzzi, Gloria M.; Gutierrez, Rodrigo A.
    The 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-Leji = a 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.