Lipid profiles from fresh biofilms along a temperature gradient on a hydrothermal stream at El Tatio (Chilean Andes), as a proxy for the interpretation of past and present biomarkers beyond Earth

The aim of this study is to interpret biomarkers in fresh biofilms from El Tatio hydrothermal system to learn how to decipher possible fossil biosignatures in ancient silica deposits beyond Earth. For that, lipid biomarkers (molecular and isotopic) were calibrated with the microbial community information provided by high-throughput sequencing of SSU rRNA genes (bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes, as well as cyanobacterial-specific)