Microbial oceanography in a sea of opportunity

TitleMicrobial oceanography in a sea of opportunity
Publication TypeJournal Articles
Year of Publication2009
AuthorsBowler C, Karl DM, Colwell RR
JournalNature
Volume459
Issue7244
Pagination180 - 184
Date Published2009/05/13/
ISBN Number0028-0836
KeywordsAstronomy, astrophysics, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Biology, biotechnology, cancer, cell cycle, cell signalling, climate change, Computational Biology, development, developmental biology, DNA, drug discovery, earth science, ecology, environmental science, Evolution, evolutionary biology, functional genomics, Genetics, Genomics, geophysics, immunology, interdisciplinary science, life, marine biology, materials science, medical research, medicine, metabolomics, molecular biology, molecular interactions, nanotechnology, Nature, neurobiology, neuroscience, palaeobiology, pharmacology, Physics, proteomics, quantum physics, RNA, Science, science news, science policy, signal transduction, structural biology, systems biology, transcriptomics
Abstract

Plankton use solar energy to drive the nutrient cycles that make the planet habitable for larger organisms. We can now explore the diversity and functions of plankton using genomics, revealing the gene repertoires associated with survival in the oceans. Such studies will help us to appreciate the sensitivity of ocean systems and of the ocean's response to climate change, improving the predictive power of climate models.

URLhttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7244/abs/nature08056.html
DOI10.1038/nature08056