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Quantifying carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes between soil and atmosphere is key in understanding net ecosystem C exchange and biogeochemical C cycling in plant‐soil systems. In ecosystems with low primary production and sparse vegetation, for example, dry lands or subpolar regions where C fluxes are small, measurement sensitivity is key—even so when measurements are combined with isotopic labeling. Here, we present a simplified gas sampling system developed to facilitate sampling and measurement of low soil CO2 fluxes as well as in situ 13CO2 labeling in the same setup. The capacity of the system was tested in a set of feature tests along with gas measurements of dryland soil‐biocrust systems. The system's sensitivity to capture minor changes in CO2 concentration was confirmed in respiration and photosynthesis measurements of soil‐biocrust systems, where fluxes down to 0.1 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 were quantified. A balloon, implemented to counterbalance underpressure build‐up during gas withdrawal, mitigated 72% of pressure differences at sampling. The overall system volume was reduced to a minimum to limit contamination caused by residual air, and the design enabled one‐step flushing and evacuation of system compartments and gas sample bags, successfully ruling out cross‐contamination between samples. Ultimately, this system offers a flexible and accessible solution for CO2 measurements that can be applied not only on arid soils with low biological activity and turnover rates, but also on plant‐soil systems. The modifications enabled larger, and thereby more representative, sample volumes to be collected while limiting incubation, contamination, and pressure effects on the intact soil system. Plain Language Summary: Measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes between soil and atmosphere are crucial to understand the terrestrial carbon cycle. In dry regions, these fluxes are rather small as both the release of CO2 via microbial respiration and uptake of CO2 via photosynthesis is limited by lack of water and sparse vegetation cover. We have developed a simplified CO2 gas sampling setup suitable for incubation experiments of soils with low biological activity and turnover rates, for example, soils from dry lands or subpolar regions, using only cost‐effective, easily available and replaceable system compartments. We tested system parameters in a set of feature tests and could rule out leakage and cross‐contamination. We further confirmed the suitability of the system for capturing small CO2 fluxes in photosynthesis and respiration measurements of soils with biocrusts. A balloon was installed to counterbalance pressure build‐up during sampling, allowing for larger gas volumes to be collected, which resulted in a mitigation of 72% of the underpressure build‐up. This system offers a straightforward and accessible solution for CO2 measurements, with features limiting contamination and pressure effects on the research sample. Key Points: We present a simplified and low‐cost gas sampling system, developed for quantifying CO2 fluxes in soil incubation experimentsRespiration rates down to 0.1 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 were quantified, confirming the suitability of the system for low‐CO2 flux measurementsA balloon was installed, mitigating 72% of pressure changes in the headspace during sampling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, while launching a multidisciplinary research project aimed at developing the Puna de Atacama region as a natural laboratory, investigators at the University of Atacama (Chile) conducted a bibliographic search identifying previously studied geographic points of the region and of potential interest for planetary science and astrobiology research. This preliminary work highlighted a significant absence of local institutional involvement in international publications. In light of this, a follow‐up study was conducted to confirm or refute these first impressions, by comparing the search in two bibliographic databases: Web of Science and Scopus. The results show that almost 60% of the publications based directly on data from the Puna, the Altiplano, or the Atacama Desert with objectives related to planetary science or astrobiology do not include any local institutional partner (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru). Indeed, and beyond the ethical questioning of international collaborations, Latin‐American planetary science deserves a strategic structuring, networking, as well as a road map at national and continental scales, not only to enhance research, development, and innovation, but also to protect an exceptional natural heritage sampling extreme environmental niches on Earth. Examples of successful international collaborations such as the field of meteorites, terrestrial analogs, and space exploration in Chile or astrobiology in Mexico are given as illustrations and possible directions to follow to develop planetary science in South America. To promote appropriate scientific practices involving local researchers, possible responses at academic and institutional levels will eventually be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ultrastructural study of spermatozoa in a series of 247 severely asthenozoospermic patients disclosed two kinds of anomalies. The first was dysplasia of the fibrous sheath, a primary defect of spermatozoa with hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the fibrous sheath, associated axonemal anomalies, familial incidence and chronic respiratory disease. The patients could be divided into two subgroups: the complete form (all spermatozoa affected) and the incomplete form (alterations in 70-80% spermatozoa). There were no spontaneous or in-vitro fertilization (IVF) pregnancies. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in six patients resulted in successful fertilizations, but only two pregnancies were obtained. These features configure a phenotype that suggests a genetic origin. The second anomaly was non-specific flagellar anomaly (NSFA), random secondary flagellar alterations affecting variable numbers of spermatozoa, without respiratory disease or familial incidence. 54 men with NSFA were followed for 2-6 years. Of these, 18 achieved conception, either spontaneous or by means of assisted fertilization, followed by 14 pregnancies and 12 live births. Their sperm motility significantly increased during the follow-up period. In the remaining 36 men motility did not change during the follow-up period and there were no fertilizations or pregnancies. We conclude that in severe asthenozoospermia, ultrastructural examination of spermatozoa has an effective prognostic value, identifying two syndromes with very different flagellar alterations and fertility potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Gram-positive, rod-shaped endophytic bacterium Cellulomonas sp. strain ATA003 was isolated from the endemic cactus Maihueniopsis domeykoensis seeds collected in the Coastal Atacama Desert, Chile. Here, we present a circular genome with a size of 4,084,881 bp and a GC content of 73.8% obtained by Nanopore sequencing., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The microbiota is attributed to be important for initial soil formation under extreme climate conditions, but experimental evidence for its relevance is scarce. To fill this gap, we investigated the impact of in situ microbial communities and their interrelationship with biocrust and plants compared to abiotic controls on soil formation in initial arid and semiarid soils. Additionally, we assessed the response of bacterial communities to climate change. Topsoil and subsoil samples from arid and semiarid sites in the Chilean Coastal Cordillera were incubated for 16 weeks under diurnal temperature and moisture variations to simulate humid climate conditions as part of a climate change scenario. Our findings indicate that microorganism-plant interaction intensified aggregate formation and stabilized soil structure, facilitating initial soil formation. Interestingly, microorganisms alone or in conjunction with biocrust showed no discernible patterns compared to abiotic controls, potentially due to water-masking effects. Arid soils displayed reduced bacterial diversity and developed a new community structure dominated by Proteobacteria , Actinobacteriota , and Planctomycetota , while semiarid soils maintained a consistently dominant community of Acidobacteriota and Proteobacteria . This highlighted a sensitive and specialized bacterial community in arid soils, while semiarid soils exhibited a more complex and stable community. We conclude that microorganism-plant interaction has measurable impacts on initial soil formation in arid and semiarid regions on short time scales under climate change. Additionally, we propose that soil and climate legacies are decisive for the present soil microbial community structure and interactions, future soil development, and microbial responses., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Rodríguez, Bartholomäus, Witzgall, Riveras-Muñoz, Oses, Liebner, Kallmeyer, Rach, Mueller, Seguel, Scholten and Wagner.)

The simultaneous extraction of intracellular DNA (iDNA) and extracellular DNA (eDNA) can help to separate the living in situ community (represented by iDNA) from background DNA that originated both from past communities and from allochthonous sources. As iDNA and eDNA extraction protocols require separating cells from the sample matrix, their DNA yields are generally lower than direct methods that lyse the cells within the sample matrix. We, therefore, tested different buffers with and without adding a detergent mix (DM) in the extraction protocol to improve the recovery of iDNA from surface and subsurface samples that covered a variety of terrestrial environments. The combination of a highly concentrated sodium phosphate buffer plus DM significantly improved iDNA recovery for almost all tested samples. Additionally, the combination of sodium phosphate and EDTA improved iDNA recovery in most of the samples and even allowed the successful extraction of iDNA from extremely low-biomass iron-bearing rock samples taken from the deep biosphere. Based on our results, we recommend using a protocol with sodium phosphate in combination with either a DM (NaP 300 mM + DM) or EDTA (NaP + EDTA 300 mM). Furthermore, for studies that rely on the eDNA pool, we recommend using buffers solely based on sodium phosphate because the addition of EDTA or a DM resulted in a decrease in eDNA for most of the tested samples. These improvements can help reduce community bias in environmental studies and contribute to better characterizations of both modern and past ecosystems., (© 2023 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Soil bacteria play a fundamental role in pedogenesis. However, knowledge about both the impact of climate and slope aspects on microbial communities and the consequences of these items in pedogenesis is lacking. Therefore, soil-bacterial communities from four sites and two different aspects along the climate gradient of the Chilean Coastal Cordillera were investigated. Using a combination of microbiological and physicochemical methods, soils that developed in arid, semi-arid, mediterranean, and humid climates were analyzed. Proteobacteria , Acidobacteria , Chloroflexi , Verrucomicrobia , and Planctomycetes were found to increase in abundance from arid to humid climates, while Actinobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes decreased along the transect. Bacterial-community structure varied with climate and aspect and was influenced by pH, bulk density, plant-available phosphorus, clay, and total organic-matter content. Higher bacterial specialization was found in arid and humid climates and on the south-facing slope and was likely promoted by stable microclimatic conditions. The presence of specialists was associated with ecosystem-functional traits, which shifted from pioneers that accumulated organic matter in arid climates to organic decomposers in humid climates. These findings provide new perspectives on how climate and slope aspects influence the composition and functional capabilities of bacteria, with most of these capabilities being involved in pedogenetic processes.

The draft genome sequence of Streptomyces fildesensis strain INACH3013, a psychrotrophic bacterium isolated from Northwest Antarctic soil, was reported. The genome sequence totaling 9,306,785 bp resulted from 122 contigs characterized by a GC content of 70.55%., (Copyright © 2021 Lavin et al.)

Throughout many regions of the world, climate change has limited the availability of water for irrigating crops. Indeed, current models of climate change predict that arid and semi-arid zones will be places where precipitation will drastically decrease. In this context, plant root-associated fungi appear as a new strategy to improve ecophysiological performance and yield of crops under abiotic stress. Thus, use of fungal endophytes from ecosystems currently subjected to severe drought conditions could improve the ecophysiological performance and quantum yield of crops exposed to drought. In this study, we evaluated how the inoculation of fungal endophytes isolated from Antarctic plants can improve the net photosynthesis, water use efficiency and production of fresh biomass in a lettuce cultivar, grown under different water availability regimes. In addition, we assessed if the presence of biochemical mechanisms and gene expression related with environmental tolerance are improved in presence of fungal endophytes. Overall, those individuals with presence of endophytes showed higher net photosynthesis and maintained higher water use efficiency in drought conditions, which was correlated with greater fresh and dry biomass production as well as greater root system development. In addition, presence of fungal endophytes was correlated with a higher proline concentration, lower peroxidation of lipids and up-/down-regulation of ion homeostasis. Our results suggest that presence of fungal endophytes could minimize the negative effect of drought by improving drought tolerance through biochemical mechanisms and improving nutritional status. Thus, root-endophytes might be a successful biotechnological tool to maintain high levels of ecophysiological performance and productivity in zones under drought., (© The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.)

Most climate and environmental change models predict significant increases in temperature and precipitation by the end of the 21st Century, for which the current functional output of certain symbioses may also be altered. In this context we address the following questions: 1) How the expected changes in abiotic factors (temperature, and water) differentially affect the ecophysiological performance of the plant Colobanthus quitensis? and 2) Will this environmental change indirectly affect C. quitensis photochemical performance and biomass accumulation by modifying its association with fungal endophytes? Plants of C. quitensis from King George Island in the South Shetland archipelago (62°09' S), and Lagotellerie Island in the Antarctic Peninsula (65°53' S) were put under simulated abiotic conditions in growth chambers following predictive models of global climate change (GCC). The indirect effect of GCC on the interaction between C. quitensis and fungal endophytes was assessed in a field experiment carried out in the Antarctica, in which we eliminated endophytes under contemporary conditions and applied experimental watering to simulate increased precipitation input. We measured four proxies of plant performance. First, we found that warming (+W) significantly increased plant performance, however its effect tended to be less than watering (+W) and combined warming and watering (+T°+W). Second, the presence of fungal endophytes improved plant performance, and its effect was significantly decreased under experimental watering. Our results indicate that both biotic and abiotic factors affect ecophysiological performance, and the directions of these influences will change with climate change. Our findings provide valuable information that will help to predict future population spread and evolution through using ecological niche models under different climatic scenarios., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Is physiological performance a suitable proxy of fitness in plants? Although, several studies have been conducted to measure some fitness-related traits and physiological performance, direct assessments are seldom found in the literature. Here, we assessed the physiology-fitness relationship using second-generation individuals of the invasive plant species Taraxacum officinale from 17 localities distributed in five continents. Specifically, we tested if i) the maximum quantum yield is a good predictor for seed-output ii) whether this physiology-fitness relationship can be modified by environmental heterogeneity, and iii) if this relationship has an adaptive consequence for T. officinale individuals from different localities. Overall, we found a significant positive relationship between the maximum quantum yield and fitness for all localities evaluated, but this relationship decreased in T. officinale individuals from localities with greater environmental heterogeneity. Finally, we found that those individuals from localities where environmental conditions are highly seasonal performed better under heterogeneous environmental conditions. Contrarily, under homogeneous controlled conditions, those individuals from localities with low environmental seasonality performed much better. In conclusion, our results suggest that the maximum quantum yield seem to be good predictors for plant fitness. We suggest that rapid measurements, such as those obtained from the maximum quantum yield, could provide a straightforward proxy of individual's fitness in changing environments.

The transdermal therapeutic system for testosterone (TTS-T) (ALZA Corp.), applied to the scrotal skin for twenty-two hours daily, was tested for twelve weeks on 4 men with hypogonadal impotence; 2 of these men wore TTS-T for as long as twenty-six months. The 40 cm2 system delivered a daily dose of 2.8 +/- 0.16 (S.E.) mg (nominal dose 2.4 mg) and the 60 cm2 system delivered a dose of 3.99 +/- 0.24 mg (nominal dose 3.6 mg). Both systems promptly increased serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to physiologic levels, restoring normal erectile activity with an increased frequency of ejaculation and a positive effect on both mood and energy. There were no changes in serum sex binding globulin and estradiol, prostate or breast size, hematologic or liver function measures, or urinary flow and frequency. There were no significant changes in serum cholesterol or low-density lipoproteins, but high-density lipoproteins tended to decline slightly. There were no dermatologic problems associated with the system. The tenfold increase in DHT over baseline levels was attributed to 5-alpha reduction of testosterone in the scrotal skin. The TTS-T is convenient, reliable, and mimics normal physiologic testosterone secretion and levels more closely than conventional methods of testosterone replacement.