Environmental diversity of bacteria and archaea
- PMID: 12116647
Environmental diversity of bacteria and archaea
Abstract
The microbial way of life spans at least 3.8 billion years of evolution. Microbial organisms are pervasive, ubiquitous, and essential components of all ecosystems. The geochemical composition of Earth's biosphere has been molded largely by microbial activities. Yet, despite the predominance of microbes during the course of life's history, general principles and theory of microbial evolution and ecology are not well developed. Until recently, investigators had no idea how accurately cultivated microorganisms represented overall microbial diversity. The development of molecular phylogenetics has recently enabled characterization of naturally occurring microbial biota without cultivation. Free from the biases of culture-based studies, molecular phylogenetic surveys have revealed a vast array of new microbial groups. Many of these new microbes are widespread and abundant among contemporary microbiota and fall within novel divisions that branch deep within the tree of life. The breadth and extent of extant microbial diversity has become much clearer. A remaining challenge for microbial biologists is to better characterize the biological properties of these newly described microbial taxa. This more comprehensive picture will provide much better perspective on the natural history, ecology, and evolution of extant microbial life.
Similar articles
-
Merging genomes with geochemistry in hydrothermal ecosystems.Science. 2002 May 10;296(5570):1077-82. doi: 10.1126/science.1072483. Science. 2002. PMID: 12004120 Review.
-
Tracking microbial biodiversity through molecular and genomic ecology.Res Microbiol. 2008 Jan-Feb;159(1):67-73. doi: 10.1016/j.resmic.2007.11.019. Epub 2007 Dec 14. Res Microbiol. 2008. PMID: 18207371 Review.
-
Structure and function of alpine and arctic soil microbial communities.Res Microbiol. 2005 Aug;156(7):775-84. doi: 10.1016/j.resmic.2005.03.004. Epub 2005 Apr 7. Res Microbiol. 2005. PMID: 15922566 Review.
-
New tools for discovering and characterizing microbial diversity.Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2008 Dec;19(6):544-9. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2008.10.010. Epub 2008 Nov 18. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2008. PMID: 18984052 Review.
-
Determining the specific microbial populations and their spatial distribution within the stromatolite ecosystem of Shark Bay.ISME J. 2009 Apr;3(4):383-96. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2008.114. Epub 2008 Dec 18. ISME J. 2009. PMID: 19092864
Cited by
-
How many species of prokaryotes are there?Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Aug 6;99(16):10234-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.162359199. Epub 2002 Jul 30. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002. PMID: 12149517 Free PMC article. Review. No abstract available.
-
Archaeal community structure and pathway of methane formation on rice roots.Microb Ecol. 2004 Jan;47(1):59-67. doi: 10.1007/s00248-003-2014-7. Microb Ecol. 2004. PMID: 15259270
-
The taxonomic and functional diversity of microbes at a temperate coastal site: a 'multi-omic' study of seasonal and diel temporal variation.PLoS One. 2010 Nov 29;5(11):e15545. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015545. PLoS One. 2010. PMID: 21124740 Free PMC article.
-
Insights from 20 years of bacterial genome sequencing.Funct Integr Genomics. 2015 Mar;15(2):141-61. doi: 10.1007/s10142-015-0433-4. Epub 2015 Feb 27. Funct Integr Genomics. 2015. PMID: 25722247 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Filling the Gaps in the Cyanobacterial Tree of Life-Metagenome Analysis of Stigonema ocellatum DSM 106950, Chlorogloea purpurea SAG 13.99 and Gomphosphaeria aponina DSM 107014.Genes (Basel). 2021 Mar 9;12(3):389. doi: 10.3390/genes12030389. Genes (Basel). 2021. PMID: 33803228 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Other Literature Sources