NGS (Illumina MiSeq) study of bacterial community of soils sampled in Mars analogue region, focusing on community changes concurrent with soil depth.

The use of terrestrial Mars analogue regions is vital for the developing understanding of potential field conditions for research on the red planet.The conditions typically sought in such analogue regions involve extremes of aridity, cold, radiation, and oxidising soil chemistry. Such an environment presents clear challenges to life as we know it, yet life is indeed reported in such regions. Examining the locations harbouring microbial communities in such environments may offer insight into ideal examination locations for Mars surface missions in the hunt for evidence of past or present life.So far, the effect of changing soil depth on bacterial community in a Mars analogue is underreported.This study examines the change in bacterial community with soil depth increase in a high-altitude Mars analogue site.Next-Generation Sequencing reveals a distinct shift in bacterial community composition with increasing soil depth which is concurrent with rapid changes in hostile environmental conditions, examining these environments in greater detail than previously.Visualisation of change in bacterial community survival with environment offers insight into the potential sheltering effect of surface coverage in a Mars analogue.This study may help inform methodologies of future Mars surface missions, as the search for evidence on the red planet continues. The rapidity of change in environment and bacterial community composition with increasing soil depth supports a strategy of high-resolution depth sampling in future studies.