Hot Lake Unicyanobacterial Consortia

Microbial autotroph-heterotroph interactions influence biogeochemical cycles on a global scale, but the diversity and complexity of natural systems and their intractability to in situ manipulation make it challenging to elucidate the principles governing these interactions. We have cultured several unicyanobacterial consortia from the microbial mat in Hot Lake, Washington. These communities are stable to serial passage. They provide experimentally manipulable systems of tractable complexity. A multi-omics approach is being used to determine the composition of the consortia and the fundamental and realized niches of each component species under conditions representing the extremes of environmental conditions experienced in situ. This will allow us to investigate the functional dynamics within the communities as a function of environment.