A newly mapped section of the tree
of life showcases the genomes of more than 50 microbial species. Researchers
say the comprehensive catalogue of genomes–just the first chapter in a larger
project–will help them find new genes and predict their functions. The research
was published today in the journal Nature.
The planet houses an estimated nonillion–1030–prokaryotic
microbes, organisms that lack a cell nucleus. According to a press
release from the University of California, Davis, only about a thousand of
these have been sequenced to date, mostly those that cause disease or have
potential industrial applications, such as producing biofuels.
Advertisement
“That’s like making a map of
the world and only mapping three cities,” said Jonathan Eisen, a
microbiologist at the UC Davis Genome Center and the U.S. Department of Energy
Joint Genome Institute, in the statement. According to the release:
This story is only available to subscribers.
Don’t settle for half the story.
Get paywall-free access to technology news for the here and now.
The new study, called the Genomic
Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea or GEBA, looks instead at representatives
from across the major branches of the family tree of microorganisms.
The study shows that although
microbes are known to swap genes with other species (a process called
“lateral transfer,”) phylogeny, or position on the family tree, is
more important in determining where new genes appear and how they spread.
“Lateral transfer does not
shuffle evolutionary innovations in a massive way,” Eisen said. “If
there is an innovation in a branch, you tend to find it in the same branch
downstream.”