Ocean Microbes Novel Study Underscores Microbial Individuality

A single drop of seawater can contain a wide representation of ocean microbes from around the world revealing novel insights into the ecology, evolution, and biotechnology potential of the global microbiome.

A new publication in Cell reports a staggering degree of biological diversity that defies contemporary definitions of microbial species, illuminates reasons behind challenges in metagenomic studies, and may even further understanding of how marine microbes respond to climate change. ‘This unprecedented project uses a big data approach to read a large, randomized sample of genomes from the global microbiome, which we then explore to answer many types of questions,’ said Ramunas Stepanauskas, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the senior author of the paper. ‘Our team’s results provide a deeper understanding of microbial diversity in the ocean, new insights into energy sources and biosynthetic capabilities, and novel tools for the study of microbes in all environments.’