Ocean Sustainability
Over 70% of the earth is covered in water, which serves as a vital resource human subsistence. Contamination and acidification pose major threats to aquatic health and biodiversity. Microbes offer a promising solution in their ability to breakdown contamination from oil spills and plastics. Applied microbiologists can play a significant part in understanding biodiversity, contributing to solutions, and encouraging stewardship.
Arctic viruses in the surface microlayer help their hosts to survive extreme temperatures
Arctic viruses employ specialized mechanisms, including cryoprotective genes, to thrive in harsh environmental conditions despite limited host availability, reveals Dr Janina Rahlff from our Ocean Sustainability Advisory Group.
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New edition of book explores ranavirus infection and disease in amphibians, reptiles and fish
Researchers are providing new information and guidance on monitoring and managing viruses that cause life-threatening diseases in amphibians, reptiles and fish, as detailed in a new book edition.
A single cell’s siesta
Researchers show how non-moving single-celled organisms manage to avoid bright light.
Study reveals how microbes create the most toxic form of mercury
Mercury is extraordinarily toxic, but it becomes especially dangerous when transformed into methylmercury – a form so harmful that just a few billionths of a gram can cause severe and lasting neurological damage to a developing fetus. Unfortunately, methylmercury often makes its way into our bodies through seafood – but ...
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Susanne Neuer receives Petersen Foundation Excellence Professorship for work on biological carbon pump
Professor Dr Susanne Neuer has been awarded the 31st Excellence Professorship of the Prof. Dr Werner Petersen Foundation for her work on the Biological Carbon Pump.
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Climate change threatens key ocean plankton groups
Planktonic foraminifera species may face unprecedented environmental conditions by the end of this century, potentially surpassing their survival thresholds, with extinctions impacting marine ecosystems and the ocean’s carbon storage capacity.
World’s first regular flight-based red tide ocean observation to launch in summer 2025
Hokkaido Air System Co., Ltd. will equip one of its aircraft with an external camera to commence the world’s first regular flight-based red tide monitoring starting in the summer of 2025.
Young coral use metabolic tricks to resist bleaching
Reduced metabolism and increased nitrogen storage allow coral larvae to keep algae around at high temperatures.
Using microRNA as a biosensor in aquaculture
Although tiny in structure, microRNA could have a huge impact on understanding life and unlocking the advancement of technologies.
Standard methodologies failing to accurately quantify fecal contamination across the globe, study warns
Standard risk assessment methodologies are significantly underestimating fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) loads in contaminated water, including recreational waters used for the 2024 Olympics, a new study reveals.
Deep-sea corals are home to previously unknown bacteria with extremely small genomes
Scientists have discovered two highly unusual bacterial species in the tissue of deep-sea corals from the Gulf of Mexico. The previously unknown coral symbionts have an extremely reduced genome and lack the ability to obtain energy from carbohydrates.
Scientists team up with NASA to unlock ocean phytoplankton secrets from space
Scientists have teamed up with NASA on a new-generation satellite mission to study the colour of the ocean from space, providing vital information about ocean health and its role in climate regulation.
Breakthrough study shows coral reefs will transform but can persist, if carbon is curbed
In a breakthrough study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa have shown that, contrary to most projections, coral reefs are not inevitably doomed, but have the potential to ...
Newly discovered cyanobacteria could help sequester carbon from oceans and factories
Strains specialized to live in high-CO2 oceanic environments have evolved traits that are useful for decarbonization and bioproduction.
Scientists examine how wastewater practices in Florida Keys impact water quality
A new study has tracked how wastewater nutrients migrate from disposal sites in the Florida Keys, and the results have already informed wastewater practices in the region.
Sequencing success: how I translated molecular biology into a biotech venture
CEO & Cofounder of MariHealth Solutions, Sarah Carroll, explores her journey to finding find real-world utility, value, and meaning in research
Swimming upstream: the microbial marathon in salmon farming
Is it acceptable to prioritize production over welfare?
A metabolic secret of ethane-consuming archaea unraveled
Scientists have presented a study on the degradation of ethane, the second most abundant alkane in seeps on the deep seafloor. They characterized enzymes involved in the process and found that their reaction breaks an established dogma in the field of anaerobic biochemistry.
Study yields evidence of oldest confirmed photosymbiosis in corals
Researchers have demonstrated, using nitrogen isotope analyses, that some extinct corals from the Middle Devonian period were already symbiotic. This represents geochemical evidence of the oldest confirmed photosymbiosis in corals.
New tool enables a more complete and rapid decoding of the language of algal gene expression
A new method that research teams can use to measure and compare different forms of proteins and protein complexes helped reveal a previously unseen molecular signature of how algal genomes are controlled during the cell cycle.
Meet the Global Ambassadors: Our Q&A with Matthew B Sullivan
The Microbiologist chats with our new Global Ambassador for the United States, Matthew B Sullivan, who is Professor of Microbiology and Director of the Center of Microbiome Science, at The Ohio State University.
Mangrove microbes to munch on plastic
A strategy to select mangrove bacteria that can transform plastic could offer a new tool for plastic waste cleanup, according to a study from the lab of Dr Alexandre Rosado, a member of AMI’s Ocean Sustainability Advisory Group.
Identifying the genes that viruses ‘steal’ from ocean microbes
The microbes that cycle nutrients in the ocean don’t do the work on their own – the viruses that infect them also influence the process.
