Primer on Microbial Genomics cont'd
Fun Facts
- Most microbes do not cause disease.
- Microbes first appeared on earth about 3.8 billion years ago. They are critically important in sustaining life on our planet.
- Microbes make up most living matter and display tremendous diversity, yet less than 1% have been cultured (grown in the laboratory) and studied.
- Microbes drive the chemistry of life and affect the global climate.
- Microbial cycling of such critical chemical elements as carbon and nitrogen helps keep the world inhabitable for all life forms.
- Microbes generate at least half the oxygen we breathe.
- Microbes offer unusual capabilities reflecting the diversity of their environmental niches. These may prove to be useful as a source of new genes and organisms of value in addressing bioremediation, global change, biotechnology, and energy production.
- Microbial studies will help us define the entire repertoire of organisms in specialized niches and, ultimately, the mechanisms by which they interact in the biosphere.
- Diversity patterns of microorganisms can be used for monitoring and predicting environmental change.
- Microbes are roots of life's family tree. An understanding of their genomes will help us understand how more complex genomes developed.
- Microbial genomes are modest in size and relatively easy to study (usually no more than 10 million DNA bases, compared with some 3 billion in the human or mouse genomes).
- Microbial communities are excellent models for understanding biological interactions and evolution.
Next: Featured Microbes
Text from Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Microbial Genome Program Report, 2000.
