> Unexplored microbes hold incredible potential for science and industry
>
> Humans live in the midst of a seething, breathing microbial world.
> Microorganisms populate every conceivable habitat, both familiar and exotic,
> from the surface of the human skin, to rainforest floors, to hydrothermal
> vents in the ocean floors.
>
> Despite the powerful and pervasive role of microbes in sustaining life, most
> of the microbial world remains a mystery. This is the subject of The
> Uncharted Microbial World: Microbes and Their Activities in the Environment,
> a new report released by the American Academy of Microbiology.
>
> The report is the result of a colloquium convened by the American Academy of
> Microbiology in February 2007. Researchers in microbiology, marine science,
> pathobiology, evolutionary biology, medicine, engineering, and other fields
> discussed ways to build on and extend recent successes in microbiology, and
> the report is a record of their discussions and recommendations.
>
> Microbes fulfill many functions that make life on Earth possible. They are
> the engines behind the global biogeochemical cycles that release oxygen and
> absorb greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They recycle dead material into
> useful nutrients for new growth. They influence food webs, bioenergy
> production, waste management and treatment, food production, and symbiotic
> nitrogen fixation for plants.
>
> "As the number of people on the planet grows, reliance on microorganisms to
> perform these critical tasks will grow as well," says Carrie Harwood of the
> University of Washington, one of the report's authors. "The stakes are high,
> and we need to accelerate the pace of discovery."
>
> Because microbes play so many roles in so many environments, they hold
> incredible potential for industry, agriculture, and medicine. Bioprospecting
> has already opened the door to many commercial applications -- including
> probiotics, biofuels, and wastewater treatment. The wealth of bacteria,
> viruses, and other microorganisms that have yet to be cultivated or
> understood offer a tantalizing untapped resource for industry, agriculture,
> and medicine.
>
> Not only do microbes shape the environments around us -- they also play
> complicated roles in the human body. "We have very limited understanding of
> complicated microbial environments at work in the body, such as the gut and
> the teeth," Harwood says.
>
> Much more microbial research is needed to understand microorganisms and tap
> into their potential, and the report offers a number of recommendations
> related to methodology and research tools, including:
>
> -- Researchers need more methods to mimic the conditions microorganisms
> encounter in their natural habitats, particularly in conditions in
> low-nutrient environments and in nutrient and oxygen gradients that form at
> surfaces.
>
> -- Microbiology needs to move beyond its dependence on pure cultures of
> organisms and appreciate the value of the defined but mixed communities of
> microbes. It may not always be possible to separate microorganisms that have
> coevolved to fit one another's functions and isolate them in pure cultures.
>
> -- Current technologies for making measurements at the microscale need
> enhancement. Work is also needed to miniaturize scanning electron microscopy
> and other microscopic tools, develop biosensors, and to generally improve
> the ability to make in situ (in place) environmental measurements.
>
> In addition, more collaboration across scientific specialties and with
> industry is needed. Collaborations are the hallmark of successful
> microbiology research, providing new perspective, fruitful dialog, and
> creative approaches.
>
> "Collaborating on microbial studies can be challenging because academic
> departments are often structured in ways that inhibit interdisciplinary
> research," Harwood explains. "International collaboration also poses
> challenges, since strict customs measures have made it very difficult to
> move microbiological samples across borders."
>
> More broadly, the report calls for improved training programs in microbial
> science that emphasize critical thinking and hypothesis or question
> building, noting that such preparation could begin in K-12 classrooms, where
> many students could be more effectively introduced to the excitement of
> natural discovery. At the graduate level, one of the key needs identified in
> the report is the lack of training in physiology -- knowledge that is
> critical to interpreting the vast amount of genomics data being generated by
> current research.
>
> Source: American Society for Microbiology
> http://www.physorg.com/news122298289.html
>
> Posted by
> Robert Karl Stonjek