The subarctic Pacific Ocean is one of the areas considered particularly vulnerable to acidification, which could affect the ocean’s ability to act as a carbon sink. Global warming affects the food webs and biodiversity in marine ecosystems, especially in regions known as oxygen minimum zones where key components of the global carbon cycle take place….
Why sequence ammonia-oxidizing archaeal enrichment culture?
Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria are key players in the nitrogen cycle found both in water and on land. For decades, researchers believed that only bacteria could break down ammonia in the presence of oxygen, but several studies have since disproved that theory. Recent work now suggests that ammonia-oxidizing archaea such as those called Crenarcheota are widespread in…
Why Sequence Hoatzin crop microbiome?
The hoatzin is a chicken-sized relative of the cuckoo bird that can’t fly very well and smells like cow manure. It can express itself through hisses, meows or screams and the chicks are born with functional claws at its fledgling wingtips so they can climb to avoid predators. Found in the South American lowlands, specifically…
Why Sequence Shipworm Microbes?
Shipworms, also known as “termites of the sea,” are worm-like saltwater clams that feed primarily on submerged wood. Like termites, shipworms depend on symbiotic bacteria in their digestive tract for enzymes, which allow them to digest wood and are of potential interest for the commercial production of ethanol from plant biomass. As part of the…
Why sequence a highly efficient, highly stable reductive dechlorinating bioreactor?
For several years, researchers have been studying an anaerobic microbial community called a bioreactor that was sampled from chlorinated sediment collected at the Alameda Naval Air Station in Northern California. The microbial community is known to contain Dehalococcoides, bacteria often found in a community of other microorganisms at groundwater sites contaminated with compounds such as…
Why sequence novel subsurface microbial phylotypes?
The marine subsurface — a region that lies at least a meter below the seafloor — is equivalent in size to roughly 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and is thought to be home to a third of the world’s microorganisms. Because of their location, many of these species have not been studied, much less…
Why Sequence freshwater Actinobacteria belonging to the acI lineage?
The most abundant freshwater bacterioplankton is one that researchers have been unable to grow for study in the lab, away from its natural habitat. The acI Actinobacteria make up as much as 50 percent of the plankton in freshwater lakes and rivers all over the world but researchers don’t know exactly what ecological role the…
Why Sequence Desulfotomaculum species?
Sulfur compounds can cause acid rain and corrode metal and concrete. Bacteria that can break down these compounds are known as sulfur-reducing bacteria (SRB). So far only one strain of some 25 Desulfotomaculum SRB species identified has been sequenced, so very little is known about these sulfur-reducing bacteria. Researchers know, for example, that the bacteria…
Why Sequence Alicycliphilus denitrificans strain BC?
Chlorate contamination of groundwater is a big problem that is often associated with the manufacture and use of explosives and munitions. To clean up chlorate-contaminated areas, some researchers turn to bacteria that can break down these compounds. These microbes can produce oxygen in anaerobic conditions, which can speed up the process of breaking down other…
Why Sequence Thermoacidophiles of deep-sea hydrothermal vents?
Bacteria that live in hydrothermal vents on land and deep underwater need to be able to tolerate high temperatures and harsh, nutrient-poor environments with high concentrations of metals. As a result of living in such environments, however, these bacteria have enzymes that are stable at high temperatures, which could be useful for producing alternative fuels….