ABSTRACT
Marine microbes are tiny organisms that live in marine environment and can only be seen under a microscope. They include cellular life forms-bacteria, fungi, algae, and plankton-along with the viruses that freeload on the cellular life forms. Curtis Suttle, University of British Columbia, denes viruses as “Viruses are the most abundant life form in the oceans… and if stretched end to end, would span further than the nearest 60 galaxies.” There are more than a billion microorganisms living in each liter of seawater, and it is now known that microbes dominate the abundance, diversity, and metabolic activity of the ocean. They comprise 98% of the biomass of the world’s ocean, supply more than half the world’s oxygen, are the major processors of the world’s greenhouse gases, and have the potential to migrate the effects of climate change. Scientists are only just beginning to understand the important environmental roles that microbes play in marine systems-from feeding ecosystems to consuming waste and sequestering carbon. The Australian Institute of Marine Science is investigating several areas where microbial processes are central to the issue of immediate concern for the world’s coral reefs. They are the cause of diseases that are suspected to be spreading due to global warming, yet paradoxically these compounds produce potential cancer cures and solutions for combating human disease. AIMS scientists have the ability to comprehensively study these compounds, by extracting them and analyzing their structure and their effects on mammalian cells. Research focus areas will include studies of the symbiotic and pathogenic relationships between marine microbes and other marine organisms.
