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Marine microbes
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Marine Microbes
Marine microbes are tiny organisms that live in marine
environments and can only be seen under a microscope. They
include cellular life forms: bacteria, fungi, algae and plankton
along with the viruses that freeload on the cellular life forms.
"Viruses are the most abundant life form in
the oceans...and if stretched end to end, would span farther
than the nearest 60 galaxies." Curtis Suttle, University of British Columbia.
There
are more than a billion micro-organisms living in each
litre of seawater, and it is now known that microbes
dominate the abundance, diversity and metabolic activity
of the ocean.
They comprise 98 per cent of the biomass of the
world's oceans, supply more than half the
world's oxygen, are the major processors of the
world's greenhouse gases and have the potential to
mitigate the effects of climate change.
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Photo:
Michael
ten
Lohuis,
JCU.
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They are the cause of diseases that are suspected to be
spreading due to global warming, yet paradoxically compounds they
produce are potential cancer cures and solutions for combating
human disease.
AIMS scientists have the ability to comprehensively study
these compounds, by extracting them and analysing their structure
and their effects on mammalian cells.
Scientists are only just beginning to understand the important
environmental roles that microbes play in marine systems -
from feeding ecosystems to consuming waste and sequestering
carbon. AIMS is investigating several areas where microbial
processes are central to issues of immediate concern to the
world's coral reefs.
Research focus areas will include studies of the symbiotic and
pathogenic relationships between marine microbes and other marine
organisms.
Centre
for Marine Microbiology and Genetics Research
February 28, 2008
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