Perception of invisible lives in the environment

2007/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia
• Genetika
• Mikrobiologia

Microorganisms are more than a third of terrestrial biomass, but they are quite unknown. Now, in the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), a new computational method has been created for the analysis of DNA samples from the environment. Through it they have been able to know the microorganisms of different habitats, from terrestrial to aquatic.

Before it was difficult to study the microorganisms of a place, since many of those living in nature do not grow in the laboratory. The sequencing of environmental DNA, metagenomics, has helped overcome this problem. Instead of sequencing the DNA of each organism, they sequence all the DNA that is around them, thus collecting the genetic information of thousands of species that inhabit this habitat.

Subsequently, researchers place the information collected in a family tree with the data of living beings that have been sequenced. So, they see what species there are and which ones are unknown and how they have evolved. Most belong to ancestral times of the family tree and have discovered that microorganisms evolve faster in some habitats than in others.