Unique acidic hypersaline lakes can be found scattered around the Yilgarn craton of Western Australia. These poly-extreme ecosystems are among the most biologically challenging waters on Earth, due to often extreme UV radiation doses, and high concentrations of salts, iron, sulfur, and heavy metals.
Hostile environments are rare ecological niches, that may harbour microorganisms with unique characteristics, but the Western Australian acidic hypersaline lakes are still relatively understudied.
Understanding these microbiota is important to predict the impact of future climate change, better reconstruct the origin and early evolution of life on Earth, and to discover novel taxa with potential biotechnological applications.
And one of these applications is biomining….