Genetic Gradients and Community-level Molecular Convergence in a Hypersaline Microbial Mat

1 Microbial Ecology Program, DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA, USA. 15 2 European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany 3 Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO 80045, USA 4 Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA; 20 5 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0347, USA; 6 Genome Biology Program, DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA, USA. 7 Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, 25 Zurich, Switzerland 8 Microbial Ecology/Biogeochemistry research laboratory, NASA Ames research center, Moffett Field CA, USA