Community-wide interactions sustain life in geothermal spring habitats

Abstract

We investigated an alga-dominated geothermal spring community in Yellowstone National Park, USA. Our goal was to determine how cells cope with abiotic stressors during diurnal sampling that spanned over two orders of magnitude in solar irradiance. We report a community level response to toxic metal resistance and energy cycling that spans the three domains of life. Arsenic detoxification is accomplished via complementary gene expression by different lineages. Photosynthesis is dominated by Cyanidioschyzon, with the mixotroph, Galdieria, relegated to nighttime heterotrophy. Many key functions, including the cell cycle, are strongly regulated by diurnal light fluctuations. These results demonstrate that biotic interactions are highly structured in extreme habitats. We suggest this was also the case on the early Earth when geothermal springs were cradles of microbial life, prior to the origin of eukaryotes.