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Rare Biosphere
Rare biosphere refers to a large number of rare species of microbial life, i.e. bacteria, archaea and Fungus, fungi, that can be found in very low concentrations in an environment. Microbial ecosystems Changes in the biodiversity of an ecosystem, whether Marine ecosystem, marine or Terrestrial ecosystem, terrestrial, may affect its efficiency and function. Climate change or other Anthropogenic hazard, anthropogenic perturbations can decrease productivity and disrupt global biogeochemical cycles. The possible ramifications of such changes are not well characterized or understood, and up to a point redundancy in an ecosystem may protect it from disruption. The dynamics of Microbial ecology, microbial ecosystems are tightly coupled to biogeochemical processes. For example, in the marine microbial loop, bacteria decomposition, decompose organics and Nutrient cycle, recycle nutrients such as nitrogen for other organisms such as phytoplankton to use. A reduction in recycled nitrogen wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Phytoplankton obtain their energy through photosynthesis, as do trees and other plants on land. This means phytoplankton must have light from the sun, so they live in the well-lit surface layers (euphotic zone) of oceans and lakes. In comparison with terrestrial plants, phytoplankton are distributed over a larger surface area, are exposed to less seasonal variation and have markedly faster turnover rates than trees (days versus decades). As a result, phytoplankton respond rapidly on a global scale to climate variations. Phytoplankton form the base of marine and freshwater food webs and are key players in the global carbon cycle. They account for about half of global photosynthetic activity and at least half of the oxygen production, despite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Primer (molecular Biology)
Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a textbook used in primary education to teach the alphabet and other basic subjects * Primer (prayer book), a common name for English prayer books used from the 13th to 16th centuries * ''The New England Primer'' (1688), a Puritan book from Colonial America with morality-themed rhymes Music * ''Primer'' (album), a 1995 music album by the musical group Rockapella * Primer 55, an American alternative metal band * "The Primer", a song from the 2005 album ''Alaska'' by Between the Buried and Me Firearms * Primer (firearms), a firearm powder charge-ignition mechanism ** Centerfire ammunition, Boxer or Berdan primers used in modern centerfire cartridges ** Detonator, a small explosive device also known as an explosive primer or blasting cap ** Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shotgun Sequencing
In genetics, shotgun sequencing is a method used for sequencing random DNA strands. It is named by analogy with the rapidly expanding, quasi-random shot grouping of a shotgun. The Sanger sequencing#Method, chain-termination method of DNA sequencing ("Sanger sequencing") can only be used for short DNA strands of 100 to 1000 base pairs. Due to this size limit, longer sequences are subdivided into smaller fragments that can be sequenced separately, and these sequences are sequence assembly, assembled to give the overall sequence. In shotgun sequencing, DNA is broken up randomly into numerous small segments, which are sequenced using the chain termination method to obtain ''reads''. Multiple overlapping reads for the target DNA are obtained by performing several rounds of this fragmentation and sequencing. Computer programs then use the overlapping ends of different reads to assemble them into a continuous sequence. Shotgun sequencing was one of the precursor technologies that was res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operational Taxonomic Unit
An Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) is an operational definition used to classify groups of closely related individuals. The term was originally introduced in 1963 by Robert R. Sokal and Peter H. A. Sneath in the context of numerical taxonomy, where an "Operational Taxonomic Unit" is simply the group of organisms currently being studied. In this sense, an OTU is a pragmatic definition to group individuals by similarity, equivalent to but not necessarily in line with classical Linnaean taxonomy or modern evolutionary taxonomy. Nowadays, however, the term "OTU" is commonly used in a different context and refers to clusters of (uncultivated or unknown) organisms, grouped by DNA sequence similarity of a specific taxonomic marker gene (originally coined as mOTU; molecular OTU). In other words, OTUs are pragmatic proxies for "species" (microbial or metazoan) at different taxonomic levels, in the absence of traditional systems of biological classification as are available for macroscopi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RRNA
Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA which is the primary component of ribosomes, essential to all cells. rRNA is a ribozyme which carries out protein synthesis in ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed from ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and then bound to ribosomal proteins to form small and large ribosome subunits. rRNA is the physical and mechanical factor of the ribosome that forces transfer RNA (tRNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA) to process and translate the latter into proteins. Ribosomal RNA is the predominant form of RNA found in most cells; it makes up about 80% of cellular RNA despite never being translated into proteins itself. Ribosomes are composed of approximately 60% rRNA and 40% ribosomal proteins by mass. Structure Although the primary structure of rRNA sequences can vary across organisms, base-pairing within these sequences commonly forms stem-loop configurations. The length and position of these rRNA stem-loops allow them to create three-di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Throughput Sequencing
DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. The advent of rapid DNA sequencing methods has greatly accelerated biological and medical research and discovery. Knowledge of DNA sequences has become indispensable for basic biological research, DNA Genographic Projects and in numerous applied fields such as medical diagnosis, biotechnology, forensic biology, virology and biological systematics. Comparing healthy and mutated DNA sequences can diagnose different diseases including various cancers, characterize antibody repertoire, and can be used to guide patient treatment. Having a quick way to sequence DNA allows for faster and more individualized medical care to be administered, and for more organisms to be identified and cataloged. The rapid speed of sequencing attained with modern DNA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Biological Laboratory
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent for most of its history, but became officially affiliated with the University of Chicago on July 1, 2013. It also collaborates with numerous other institutions. As of 2022, 60 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with MBL as students, faculty members or researchers. In addition since 1960, there have been, 137 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators, early career scientists, international researchers, and professors; 306 members of the National Academy of Sciences; and 236 Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences who have been affiliated with the lab. History 19th century The Marine Biological Laboratory grew from the vision of several Bostonians and Spencer Fullerton Baird, the United States' first Fish Commiss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchell Sogin
Dr. Mitchell Sogin is a distinguished senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, whose research investigates the evolution and diversity of single-celled organisms. Career Dr. Sogin obtained a BS in Chemistry and Microbiology at the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1967. He continued on at the university to complete a MS in Industrial Microbiology under Z. John Ordal in 1967 and a PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Biology under Carl R. Woese in 1972. He went on to join the staff at National Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado where he was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Norman R. Pace from 1972-1976 and then a senior staff member from 1976-1989. Dr. Sogin became a professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1980 and in 1989 joined the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole as a senior scientist. He founded the Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution at the Marine Biological L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DNA Sequencing
DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. The advent of rapid DNA sequencing methods has greatly accelerated biological and medical research and discovery. Knowledge of DNA sequences has become indispensable for basic biological research, DNA Genographic Projects and in numerous applied fields such as medical diagnosis, biotechnology, forensic biology, virology and biological systematics. Comparing healthy and mutated DNA sequences can diagnose different diseases including various cancers, characterize antibody repertoire, and can be used to guide patient treatment. Having a quick way to sequence DNA allows for faster and more individualized medical care to be administered, and for more organisms to be identified and cataloged. The rapid speed of sequencing attained with modern D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanger Sequencing
Sanger sequencing is a method of DNA sequencing that involves electrophoresis and is based on the random incorporation of chain-terminating dideoxynucleotides by DNA polymerase during in vitro DNA replication. After first being developed by Frederick Sanger and colleagues in 1977, it became the most widely used sequencing method for approximately 40 years. It was first commercialized by Applied Biosystems in 1986. More recently, higher volume Sanger sequencing has been replaced by next generation sequencing methods, especially for large-scale, automated genome analyses. However, the Sanger method remains in wide use for smaller-scale projects and for validation of deep sequencing results. It still has the advantage over short-read sequencing technologies (like Illumina) in that it can produce DNA sequence reads of > 500 nucleotides and maintains a very low error rate with accuracies around 99.99%. Sanger sequencing is still actively being used in efforts for public health initiative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
