Eradicating viruses and bacteria may not be so easy as some people think. We are surrounded by viruses, we eat viruses, we drink viruses, we breathe viruses. And the "virome" is an essential part of the human holobiont.
From "Half-Earth" by E. O. Wilson (p. 125).
"Although recognized only in 1988, Prochlorococcus are far from rare. They are in fact the most abundant organism in tropical and subtropical seas around the world. They live in waters as deep as two hundred meters and reach local densities of more than a hundred thousand per millimeter. Because the tiny cells account for 20 to 40 percent of the biomass of all photosynthetic organisms present between 40 N and 40 S in the open ocean, they are responsible for up to half the local net primary production.
Yet, if Prochlorococcus along with a second superabundant bacterium, Pelagibacter, are the most important organisms, might they be the prey of viruses that are even smaller? Experts used to think that such micro-predators are at best relatively rare. In 2013, however, new methods in the fast-moving field of ultramicroscopic research revealed the presence of viruses on an averaged of billions per liter of seawater, all are bacteriophages (literally, eaters of bacteria), of which one HTVC010P is the most abundant... it must be classified as the most abundant known species on Earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment