2022年5月12日 · Dozens of oval bacteria coat the membrane of this microorganism, known as a protist, collected from the sulfidic, anoxic Cariaco Basin off the coast of Venezuela. This pairing is probably an example of mutualistic symbiosis, a close relationship between two species in which both parties benefit.

2013年2月1日 · Amalia Aruda knows that tiny marine creatures have big impacts. Some can kill you. Aruda studies some of the smallest animals in the ocean—barely visible crustaceans called copepods and the bacteria that hitchhike on them. These include Vibrio cholerae, the bacteria that cause cholera, a disease that triggers diarrhea, vomiting,…

2007年10月4日 · In the quest to explore the remarkable diversity of microbial life on Earth, an international team of scientists has identified marine bacteria that can "eat" butane and propane in natural gas, metabolizing them in a way never observed before-in the absence of oxygen. Scientists have known since the beginning of…

2012年12月5日 · The immense problem starts at the microscopic level—with a slippery layer of marine bacteria that larger organisms attach to (and sometimes eat). “If you clean a ship or put a new ship to sea, it’s coated with microbes within a day,” said Van Mooy. “Not enough to see, but the first microbes are starting to lie down.

Protists are the Rodney Dangerfields of marine microbes. Although marine bacteria emerged as heroes in the Deepwater Horizon affair, gobbling up vast amounts of spilled oil and gas, few people paid much attention to protists—those mostly single-celled creatures such as the Amoeba and Paramecium thatyou may recall from high school.…

2008年8月21日 · An unprecedented survey of seabirds, marine mammals, and sharks on the U.S. East Coast has revealed that marine wildlife contains a wide variety of disease-causing microbes—including many that have developed resistance to antibiotics and several that can be transmitted to humans. The newly published study provides no evidence that the…

2015年8月24日 · In a new study, scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that stressed or dying phytoplankton release chemicals that stimulate marine bacteria to consume the phytoplankton. The chemicals rev up the bacteria’s metabolisms, causing them to more rapidly convert organic carbon from phytoplankton back into carbon dioxide—before ...

Biofilms form when bacteria settle onto a hard surface (1), where they proliferate and produce slime (2). Most efforts to fight biofouling have targeted these steps. WHOI biochemist Ben Van Mooy thinks a better approach might be to enhance the processes that naturally reduce the size of biofilms: detachment of…

Bacteria and unicellular marine plants called diatoms depend on each other for some essential nutrients, but they also compete for other nutrients. So life gets complicated in the chemical soup of the ocean. Diatoms convert carbon dioxide into organic carbon via photosynthesis. Bacteria need organic carbon, but many cannot make…

productive marine bacteria. I also developed a deep appreciation for the value of culture collections and the hard work of their curators. Culturing microoganisms involves tenacity, ingenuity, and patience, but even with these attributes, luck and serendipity can also be an important part of the recipe for success.