Marine Microorganisms

Marine Microbiology brings together microbial biology and ecology to create an integrated approach that addresses environmental management, human health, and economic concerns. The Second Edition takes into account many new discoveries in the field including the role of microbes in ocean processes and nutrient cycles, the importance of viruses, the beneficial role of marine microbes in biotechnology, biofuels, metagenomics and synthetic biology, and new research on the impact of climate change and ocean acidification. The first three sections review the main features of the marine environment and key aspects of marine microbial life; the second section examines the role of marine microorganisms in ecology; and the final section considers some of the applications of this knowledge in areas such as disease and biodegradation. Marine Microbiology is ideally suited for upper level undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers.

How small can a free-living organism be? On the surface, this question is straightforward-in principle, the smallest cells can be identified and measured. But understanding what factors determine this lower limit, and addressing the host of other questions that follow on from this knowledge, require a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and ecology of cellular life. The recent report of evidence for life in a martian meteorite and the prospect of searching for biological signatures in intelligently chosen samples from Mars and elsewhere bring a new immediacy to such questions. How do we recognize the morphological or chemical remnants of life in rocks deposited 4 billion years ago on another planet? Are the empirical limits on cell size identified by observation on Earth applicable to life wherever it may occur, or is minimum size a function of the particular chemistry of an individual planetary surface? These questions formed the focus of a workshop on the size limits of very small organisms, organized by the Steering .Group for the Workshop on Size Limits of Very Small Microorganisms and held on October 22 and 23, 1998. Eighteen invited panelists, representing fields ranging from cell biology and molecular genetics to paleontology and mineralogy, joined with an almost equal number of other participants in a wide-ranging exploration of minimum cell size and the challenge of interpreting micro- and nano-scale features of sedimentary rocks found on Earth or elsewhere in the solar system. This document contains the proceedings of that workshop. It includes position papers presented by the individual panelists, arranged by panel, along with a summary, for each of the four sessions, of extensive roundtable discussions that involved the panelists as well as other workshop participants.

During the meeting held on 17-19 September 1997 in Brest, some potential uses of marine microorganisms were examined in order to assess current knowledge. Communications reported in this publication refer principally to the substances found in these microorganisms: in particular to long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids produced by bacteria, cyanobacteria and microalgae; enzymes, focusing on those stable at high temperatures, from deep sea bacteria; polysaccharides from bacteria; other substance presenting biological activities that could be of interest for pharmaceutical, food, feed or cosmetics industries and for preventing marine fouling and contamination by heavy metals. Some general aspects have also been examined, such as methods and means for microalgae strain holding, research of biological activities, culture of those microorganisms, and purification of molecules. Industrial issues related to these developments were presented by representatives from some relevant industries.

This book describes the state-of-the-art concerning the ‘marine microbiome’ and its uses in biotechnology. The first part discusses the diversity and ecology of marine microorganisms and viruses, including all three domains of life: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. It discusses whether marine microorganisms exist and, if so, why they might be unique. The second part presents selected marine habitats, their inhabitants and how they influence biogeochemical cycles, while the third discusses the utilization of marine microbial resources, including legal aspects, dissemination, and public awareness. The marine microbiome is the total of microorganisms and viruses in the ocean and seas and in any connected environment, including the seafloor and marine animals and plants. The diversity of microbial life remains unquantified and largely unknown, and could represent a hidden treasure for human society. Accordingly, this book is also intended to connect academics and industry, providing essential information for microbiologists from both fields.

The marine environment covers 70% of the earth’s surface and accounts for 98% of the potentially habitable space. The bioactives from marine microorganisms include antibiotic compounds, polysaccharides, inhibitors, enzymes, peptides, and pigments. These are used in various fields of biology that range from nutraceuticals to cosmeceuticals. Recent scientific investigations have revealed that marine microbial compounds exhibit various beneficial biological effects, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-HIV, anti-hypertensive, and anti-diabetic. Marine Microorganisms: Extraction and Analysis of Bioactive Compounds sheds light on the extraction, clean-up, and detection methods of major compounds from marine organisms. The book includes information on the different classes of marine microorganisms and the different bioactives that can be extracted from bacteria, fungi and microalgae. Divided into 7 chapters, the book covers bioactive marine natural products, such as marine microbes, seaweeds, and marine sponges as potential sources of drug discovery, and focuses on analysis methods of the biocomponents from marine microorganisms. A useful reference tool for researchers and students, this book provides current knowledge about isolation and analysis methods of the bioactives and provides insight into the various bioactives of marine microbes toward nutraceutical and pharmaceutical development.

Marine environments are fluid. Microorganisms living in the ocean experience diverse environmental changes over wide spatiotemporal scales. For microorganisms and their communities to survive and function in the ocean, they need to have the capacity to sense, respond to, adapt to and/or withstand periodic and sporadic environmental changes. This eBook collates a variety of recent research reports and theoretical discussions on the ecoenergetic strategies, community structure, biogeochemical and ecosystem functions as well as regulatory processes and mechanisms that marine microorganisms employ in response to environmental gradients and variations.

Deliberately breaking with the classical biology-centered description of marine organisms and their products, this reference emphasizes microbial technology over basic biology, setting it apart from its predecessors. As such, it systematically covers the technology behind high-value compounds for use as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals or cosmetics, from prospecting to production issues. Following a definition of the field, the book goes on to address all industrially important aspects of marine microbial biotechnology. The first main part contains a description of the major production organisms, from archaebacteria to cyanobacteria to algae and symbionts, including their genetic engineering. The remaining four parts look at commercially important compounds produced by these microorganisms together with their applications. Throughout, the emphasis is on technological considerations, and the future potential of these organisms or compound classes is discussed. A valuable and forward-looking resource for innovative biotechnologists in industry as well as in academia.