DNA from the ocean’s ‘Twilight Zone’ could lead to new lifesaving drugs
More than 300 million groups of marine bacteria, viruses and fungi have had their genes recorded by researchers into the largest-ever database of marine microbes, the KMAP Global Ocean Gene Catalog 1.0. This is in the hopes that the database will lead to innovations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and medicine. It is the largest open-source catalogue to date matching microbial class with gene function, geographic location and ecosystem type. The catalogue offers diverse applications that go beyond advancing the understanding of the ocean microbiome and its metabolic capabilities. Additionally, it creates a baseline for monitoring how pollution, global warming and other changes affect the health of the ocean and provides a tool for investigating marine genetic resources in order to find novel genes that might have applications in the fields of energy, food, medicine and other industries.
Laiolo, E., Álam, I., Uludağ, M., Jamil, T., Agustı, S., Gojobori, T., Acinas, S. G., Gasol, J. M., & Duarte, C. M. (2024). Metagenomic probing toward an atlas of the taxonomic and metabolic foundations of the global ocean genome. Frontiers in Science, 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsci.2023.1038696.