Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001
| SS04 Environmental Microbial Genomics (Environmental and Disciplinary Connections) |
| Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 2:30:00 PM |
| Location: Brazos |
| |
| DeLong, E, F, MBARI, Moss Landing, USA, delong@mbari.org |
| Beja, O, , MBARI, Moss Landing, USA, beja@mbari.org |
| Preston, C, M, MBARI, Moss Landing, USA, preston@mbari.org |
| Feldman, R, A, Molecular Dynamics, Sunnyvale, USA, robert.feldman@am.apbiotech.com |
| Heidelberg, J, , TIGR, Rockville, USA, jheidel@tigr.org |
| |
| Genome Ecology : Comparative & Functional Microbial Genomics in the Ocean. |
 |
| Cultivation-independent molecular surveys have recently revealed an impressive amount of diversity in naturally occurring marine microbial populations. But the biology of some of these microbes is little known, because many to date have resisted cultivation. Genomic approaches are now providing a window into this marine microbal world, and are beginning to yield significant insights into the genome organization, structure, and content of uncultivated microorganisms. Environmental Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) libraries are providing the raw material necessary to dissect genomes and reconstruct biochemical pathways of some enigmatic uncultured microorganisms. Genomic analyses can generate hypotheses that can further be tested at the biochemical, physiological, and ecological levels. For example, analyses of large genome fragments recovered from bacteria in the SAR86 phylogenetic group have revealed the unexpected presence of a novel bacterial rhodopsin. We can now show that this marine bacterial rhodopsin is biochemically fucntional, acts as a light-driven proton pump, and is expressed at high levels the native membranes of naturally-occurring marine bacteria. This has provided evidence for a new type of phototrophy in the sea. Furthermore, chromatic adaptation appears evident in the rhodopsins of natural populations, with the deeper-dwelling cells containing blue-shifted variants of bacterial rhodopsin. Besides illuminating specific genetic, biochemical and physiological properties and functions, genome analyses may also have potential to reveal higher order, population level genomic trends, thus facilitating comparisons between populations occurring in different environmental contexts. |
| |
| This Session Listing
|
Home | Information | Employment | Education | Meetings | Policy | Publications | Students | Forms | Search
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. All Rights Reserved
