Exploring the deep biosphere

Over the past two decades, scientific drilling into sediments and rocks in the ocean and the continent has revealed the presence of physiologically and phylogenetically complex microbial life in the deep subsurface. Microorganisms, most of which have no cultured or known relatives in the surface biosphere, have been discovered in sediments and rock at depth as deep as 1 km below the seafloor and more than 3 km deep in the continent. The deep biosphere probably represents the most voluminous part of the glob...     

Genomics,metagenomics,and microbial oceanography—A sea of opportunities

Microbial oceanography is an emerging discipline resulted from the interaction,cross-fertilization and integration of life science and ocean science.Microbial oceanography integrates the principles of marine microbiology,microbial ecology and oceanography to study the role of microorganisms in the biogeochemical dynamics of natural marine ecosystems.The application of genomics tools to study marine microbes is resulting in rapid advancements in microbial oceanography that has important implications in globa...