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The oceans constitute Earth's largest ecosystem while also being one of the least understood. The activities of marine microorganisms regulate biogeochemical cycles and exert a significant influence on climate control. The human population has a strong impact on the oceans and, conversely, depends heavily on their resources. In previous projects, we have used new sequencing technologies to describe bacterioplankton communities. We have focused on Bacteroidetes because they constitute a significant part of marine communities. By working with representative cultures of this taxonomic group, we have made important advances in understanding the physiology of marine organisms that use organic matter and light for growth. Our studies, along with those of other authors, have led us to develop a model that describes the role of Bacteroidetes in the marine environment. This group appears to be adapted, among other things, to growth on polysaccharides and peptides, the utilization of low-concentration growth factors, adhesion to particles, and energy production from light. With this information, we believe our next step is to study the interactions and adaptations of Bacteroidetes in the oceans. We will focus on the expression of genes characteristic of Bacteroidetes function in the marine environment. The types of interactions between taxonomic groups within Bacteroidetes and other components of bacterioplankton will also be studied. Our objective for this latter research will be to identify the genes or contiguous gene groups that promote these interactions.
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The oceans constitute the largest ecosystem on Earth and yet one of the least known. The activities of marine microorganism drive the biogeochemical cycles and regulate climate. In addition, human beings have a large impact on the oceans while depending to a large extent on their resources. In previous projects we have made use of the latest nucleic acid sequencing technologies to describe the bacterioplankton of the oceans. We have focused on the Bacteroidetes since it is one of the main components of the marine communities. With representative cultures we have made progress towards the understanding of the adaptations of this taxonomic group to the conditions in the ocean. In particular, we have studied the effect that light has on the marine Bacteroidetes while they grow on organic matter. Based on the information we have gathered and those by other research groups we have come up with a general model organism adapted to the adhesion of particles, to the degradation of polysaccharides or peptides for growth and uptake of growth factors at low concentration. We believe that our next step is to make use of this information to answer some key questions about the role of Bacteroidetes in the marine environment. We plan to study the interactions of members of the Bacteroidetes phylum among themselves and with members positioned on other branches of the phylogenetic tree. Our objective is to identify genes and gene clusters that favor such interactions.
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