Marine microbiomes and their expanding role in biotechnological potential: a systematic review.
Joshi G, Khannam KS
Bioremediation
The coastal waters that nourish the fish you eat and the beaches you swim at are being cleaned—or poisoned—by invisible microbial communities whose health directly shapes what ends up on your plate and in your body.
Tiny bacteria living in the ocean are responsible for recycling nutrients that keep all ocean life alive, and they also have a remarkable ability to break down toxic pollutants that industry has dumped into coastal waters. Scientists are now using advanced genetic tools to map these microscopic communities across the entire globe. The goal is to harness their natural cleaning abilities to restore polluted oceans and develop new products for medicine and industry.
Key Findings
Marine microbes account for the majority of ocean biomass and drive most of Earth's key biogeochemical cycles, including those that regulate global climate.
Decades of industrialization and urbanization have caused widespread ocean contamination, with pollutants accumulating especially in coastal sediments and posing documented risks to marine ecosystems and human health.
Effective microbial breakdown of pollutants depends on syntrophic (cooperative) interactions between different microbial species, meaning community collaboration—not single organisms—is the key to bioremediation.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Ocean microbes drive the planet's major chemical cycles and can break down pollutants, and scientists are mapping these microbial communities globally to unlock their potential for cleaning up contaminated coastlines and developing new biotechnologies.
Abstract Preview
Marine bacteria are present almost everywhere in the ocean environment and are essential to many biogeochemical processes. The perspectives of ecologists and evolutionary biologists on the signific...
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