Abstract

Understanding biological processes that underlie plant resilience to extreme abiotic conditions is a major challenge for plant biologists. This knowledge is essential to develop biotechnologies that could be used to improve crops in an era of climate change or to expand the limits of agriculture to marginal lands. We have characterized three pristine and extreme ecosystems from central Atacama Desert. The western slopes of the Andes provide a natural altitudinal gradient of environmental parameters, such as rainfall and temperature, which defines three vegetational belts: The pre-puna (2400 – 3300 m a.s.l), the puna (3300 – 4000 m.a.s.l.), and the high Andean steppe (4000 – 4500 m.a.s.l.). Diverse plant communities succeed each other at these different environments, yet, very little is known about the underlying genetic mechanisms that allow them to inhabit these extreme and dissimilar environments. We sequenced the transcriptome of 32 most abundant and ecologically important plant species in order to explore gene functions. We also performed a metagenomics analysis of the soil bacteria that congregate at their rhizosphere. Our studies provide new insights into mechanisms for evolution of plant abiotic stress tolerance, and improve our understanding of the highly unique ecosystem of the Atacama Desert.