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Pavilion Lake Microbialites: Morphological, Molecular and Biochemical Evidence for a Cold-Water Transition to Colonial Aggregates Schulze-Makuch, Dirk; Lim, Darlene; Laval, Bernard; Turse, Carol; António, Marina Resendes de Sousa; Chan, Olivia; Pointing, Stephen B.; Brady, Allyson; Reid, Donnie; Irwin, Louis N.

Abstract

The presence of microbialite structures in a freshwater, dimictic mid-latitudelake and their establishment after the last ice age about 10,000 years ago is puzzling.Freshwater calcite microbialites at Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada, consist of acomplex community of microorganisms that collectively form large, ordered structuredaggregates. This distinctive assemblage of freshwater calcite microbialites was studied through standard microbial methods, morphological observations, phospholipid fatty acid(PLFA) analysis, DNA sequencing and the identification of quorum sensing molecules.Our results suggest that the microbialites may represent a transitional form from theexclusively prokaryotic colonial precursors of stromatolites to the multicellular organismicaggregates that give rise to coral reefs.

Item Metadata

Title
Pavilion Lake Microbialites: Morphological, Molecular and Biochemical Evidence for a Cold-Water Transition to Colonial Aggregates
Creator
Schulze-Makuch, Dirk; Lim, Darlene; Laval, Bernard; Turse, Carol; António, Marina Resendes de Sousa; Chan, Olivia; Pointing, Stephen B.; Brady, Allyson; Reid, Donnie; Irwin, Louis N.
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Date Issued
2012-12-27
Description
The presence of microbialite structures in a freshwater, dimictic mid-latitudelake and their establishment after the last ice age about 10,000 years ago is puzzling.Freshwater calcite microbialites at Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada, consist of acomplex community of microorganisms that collectively form large, ordered structuredaggregates. This distinctive assemblage of freshwater calcite microbialites was studied through standard microbial methods, morphological observations, phospholipid fatty acid(PLFA) analysis, DNA sequencing and the identification of quorum sensing molecules.Our results suggest that the microbialites may represent a transitional form from theexclusively prokaryotic colonial precursors of stromatolites to the multicellular organismicaggregates that give rise to coral reefs.
Subject
Microbialite; Community; Stromatolite; Quorum sensing; Biomass; Biodiversity; Ecology
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2019-04-15
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
CC BY 3.0
DOI
10.14288/1.0378219
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/69699
Affiliation
Applied Science, Faculty of; Non UBC; Civil Engineering, Department of
Citation
Life 3 (1): 21-37 (2013)
Publisher DOI
10.3390/life3010021
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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CC BY 3.0