A map of ocean temperature variation and some of the Sorcerer II sample sites.
This just in, from Technology Review: The ocean hosts a stunningly–and surprisingly–diverse menagerie of microorganisms, according to a massive genetic study published today.
Craig Venter set sail around the world to shotgun sequence the millions of viruses and bacteria in every spoonful of sea water. From the first five ocean samples, this team grew the number of known genes on the planet by 10x and the number of genes involved in solar energy conversion by 100x. The ocean microorganisms have evolved over a longer period of time and have pathways that are more efficient than photosynthesis.
Another discovery: every 200 miles across the open ocean, the microbial genes are up to 85% different. The oceans are not homogenous masses. They consist of myriad uncharted regions of ecological diversity.
Those insights came from the first five samples. On March 13, a second set of data was released. More tidbits from Tech Review:
“We have not understood much about our own planet and our own environment,” Venter told Technology Review from his boat, the Sorcerer II, currently in the Sea of Cortez, in Mexico. “We’ve been missing as much as 99 percent of the life forms and biology out there.”
The first set of results, published this week in three papers in the journal PLoS Biology, revealed six million new proteins, doubling the number of known protein sequences. “Everywhere we sampled, we found new proteins,” says Venter.
In fact, every environment sampled showed high genetic diversity, both within and between samples. The findings are challenging the notion of species in microorganisms. “When you look at microbes, they don’t appear to be individual species”
“Microbial communities are almost like a superorganism, where each microbe is contributing to community as a whole,” says Weinstock. “We really need to characterize the metagenome and analyze the genes and protein products as an aggregate.”
Venter and others eventually hope to find proteins that can be co-opted to create novel bacterial machines–proteins involved in hydrogen production or carbon fixation, for example, that could one day be engineered to boost the carbon-fixing capacity of the ocean or to create fuel-producing bacteria. “Genes are the design component of the future,” says Venter.
For the curious, PLoS has a special collection of open-access articles, including an interactive graphic display of the data and a slide-show video by Venter out in the Sea of Cortez.
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