San Francisco

The genomic secrets of the ocean's microbes are set to be revealed by the world's first centre devoted to marine bioinformatics. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, plans to establish the facility within the next few months.

The centre's main focus will be microbial genomics, says Ron Burton, director of marine biology at Scripps. Most of the marine genomes sequenced so far have been microorganisms — yet their biochemistry and ecology remains poorly understood, despite their crucial role in the global cycling of carbon and nitrogen (see Nature 415, 572–574; 2002).

The Scripps centre will not itself sequence marine genomes, Burton says. That work will continue at places such as the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California, where a number of marine microbes have so far been sequenced. Rather, the new facility's emphasis will be on teasing information about ocean life from the sequence databases.

For example, Brian Palenik's laboratory at Scripps has already started to apply bioinformatics techniques to learn how microbes relate to their ocean environment. Traditionally, biologists have probed this question by studying microorganisms in laboratory flasks. But genomics can help to reveal the factors that contribute to a microbe's survival. Palenik has discovered several overlooked metabolic pathways in cyanobacteria, photosynthetic microbes that are responsible for 80% of the carbon fixed from the atmosphere in the open ocean.

The new division will eventually consist of about 10 faculty members, and will cost upwards of $20 million to establish. A director has yet to be appointed, but the leading candidate is said to be a well-known figure in the bioinformatics field.