Research Collaboration Reveals Genomes of 201 Microbes

Scientists in the U.S. have successfully sequenced the genomes of 201 microbes to find out more about the role of these single-celled organisms in the environment. The project was led by the U.S. Department of Energy-Joint Genome Institute (DOE-JGI) and involved the genetic sequencing of unexplored life known as "microbial dark matter" from nine diverse habitats: Sakinaw Lake in British Columbia; the Etoliko Lagoon of western Greece; a sludge reactor in Mexico; the Gulf of Maine; off the north coast of Oahu, Hawaii, the Tropical Gyre in the south Atlantic; the East Pacific Rise; the Homestake Mine in South Dakota; and the Great Boiling Spring in Nevada.

From the samples, the research team laser-sorted 9,000 cells, from which they were able to reassemble and identify 201 distinct genomes, which then could be aligned to 28 major previously uncharted branches of the tree of life. The second finding of the the work was the correct reassignment, or binning, of data of some 340 million DNA fragments from other habitats to the proper lineage. This course-correction shows how organisms function in a particular ecosystem, researchers said. The third finding was the resolution of relationships within and between microbial phyla - the taxonomic ranking between domain and class - which led the team to propose two new superphyla.

Tanja Woyke, DOE-JGI Microbial Program Head said "Microbes are the most abundant and diverse forms of life on Earth. Our knowledge about their habits and potential benefits has been hindered by the fact that the vast majority of these have not yet been cultivated in the laboratory. What we are now discovering are unexpected metabolic features that extend our understanding of biology and challenge established boundaries between the domains of life."

Results of the research project are published in a paper in the journal Nature available at: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12352.html.

The news release can be read at: http://www.jgi.doe.gov/News/news_13_07_14.html.