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Priorities for ocean microbiome research

Nature Microbiology volume 7, pages 937–947 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Microbial communities have essential roles in ocean ecology and planetary health. Microbes participate in nutrient cycles, remove huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the air and support ocean food webs. The taxonomic and functional diversity of the global ocean microbiome has been revealed by technological advances in sampling, DNA sequencing and bioinformatics. A better understanding of the ocean microbiome could underpin strategies to address environmental and societal challenges, including achievement of multiple Sustainable Development Goals way beyond SDG 14 ‘life below water’. We propose a set of priorities for understanding and protecting the ocean microbiome, which include delineating interactions between microbiota, sustainably applying resources from oceanic microorganisms and creating policy- and funder-friendly ocean education resources, and discuss how to achieve these ambitious goals.

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Fig. 1: Roles of the ocean microbiome.
Fig. 2: Estimates of total biomass in the ocean.
Fig. 3: Timeline of ocean microbiome research.
Fig. 4: Key features related to the ocean microbiome.
Fig. 5: Connections between ocean microbiome priorities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Zaayman-Gallant, T. Rauscher and F. Ibarbalz for preparation of the figures, and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation project AtlantECO, under grant agreement no. 862923. This article is contribution number 131 of Tara Oceans.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tara Ocean Foundation, Paris, France

    Andre Abreu, Etienne Bourgois, Adam Gristwood & Romain Troublé

  2. Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain

    Silvia G. Acinas

  3. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany

    Peer Bork, Stephanie Kandels, Rainer Pepperkok, Detlev Arendt, Josipa Bilic, Edith Heard, Brendan Rouse & Jessica Vamathevan

  4. School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Emmanuel Boss

  5. Institut de biologie de l’Ecole normale supérieure (IBENS), Ecole normale supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Université Paris, Paris, France

    Chris Bowler, Hélène Morlon & Juan José Pierella Karlusich

  6. Research Federation (FR2022) Tara Oceans GO-SEE, Paris, France

    Chris Bowler, Marko Budinich, Samuel Chaffron, Colomban de Vargas, Tom O. Delmont, Damien Eveillard, Lionel Guidi, Hélène Morlon, Fabien Lombard, Juan José Pierella Karlusich, Gwenael Piganeau, Antoine Régimbeau, Guilhem Sommeria-Klein, Lars Stemmann & Patrick Wincker

  7. Nantes Université, École Centrale Nantes, CNRS, LS2N, UMR 6004, Nantes, France

    Marko Budinich, Samuel Chaffron, Damien Eveillard & Antoine Régimbeau

  8. Sorbonne Université and CNRS, UMR7144 (AD2M), Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, France

    Colomban de Vargas

  9. Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François-Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Université d’Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, Evry, France

    Tom O. Delmont & Patrick Wincker

  10. Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefanche, LOV, Villefranche-sur-mer, France

    Lionel Guidi, Fabien Lombard & Lars Stemmann

  11. Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy

    Daniele Iudicone, Raffaella Casotti & Wiebe H. C. F. Kooistra

  12. Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Villefranche-sur-mer, France

    Fabien Lombard

  13. Sorbonne Université and CNRS, UMR 7232, BIOM, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France

    Gwenael Piganeau

  14. Department of Computing, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Guilhem Sommeria-Klein

  15. Department of Microbiology and Center of Microbiome Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Matthew B. Sullivan & Olivier Zablocki

  16. Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Matthew B. Sullivan

  17. Department of Biology, Institute of Microbiology and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Shinichi Sunagawa

  18. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Hinxton, UK

    Robert Finn

  19. Plentzia Marine Station (PiE-UPV/EHU), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Plentzia, Spain

    Ibon Cancio

  20. Marine Biological Association of the UK and School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK

    Michael Cunliffe

  21. EMBRC ERIC, Paris, France

    Anne Emmanuelle Kervella, Nicolas Pade & Ioulia Santi

  22. University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Matthias Obst

  23. Centro de Ciências do Mar, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Deborah M. Power

  24. Shanghai Ocean University International Center for Marine Studies, Shanghai, China

    Deborah M. Power

  25. Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC), Heraklion, Greece

    Ioulia Santi

  26. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Tatiana Margo Tsagaraki

  27. Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium

    Jan Vanaverbeke

Consortia

Tara Ocean Foundation

  • Andre Abreu
  • , Etienne Bourgois
  • , Adam Gristwood
  •  & Romain Troublé

Tara Oceans

  • Silvia G. Acinas
  • , Peer Bork
  • , Emmanuel Boss
  • , Chris Bowler
  • , Marko Budinich
  • , Samuel Chaffron
  • , Colomban de Vargas
  • , Tom O. Delmont
  • , Damien Eveillard
  • , Lionel Guidi
  • , Daniele Iudicone
  • , Stephanie Kandels
  • , Hélène Morlon
  • , Fabien Lombard
  • , Rainer Pepperkok
  • , Juan José Pierella Karlusich
  • , Gwenael Piganeau
  • , Antoine Régimbeau
  • , Guilhem Sommeria-Klein
  • , Lars Stemmann
  • , Matthew B. Sullivan
  • , Shinichi Sunagawa
  • , Patrick Wincker
  •  & Olivier Zablocki

European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)

  • Detlev Arendt
  • , Josipa Bilic
  • , Peer Bork
  • , Robert Finn
  • , Edith Heard
  • , Stephanie Kandels
  • , Rainer Pepperkok
  • , Brendan Rouse
  •  & Jessica Vamathevan

European Marine Biological Resource Centre - European Research Infrastructure Consortium (EMBRC-ERIC)

  • Raffaella Casotti
  • , Ibon Cancio
  • , Michael Cunliffe
  • , Anne Emmanuelle Kervella
  • , Wiebe H. C. F. Kooistra
  • , Matthias Obst
  • , Nicolas Pade
  • , Deborah M. Power
  • , Ioulia Santi
  • , Tatiana Margo Tsagaraki
  •  & Jan Vanaverbeke

Contributions

A.G. and C.B. wrote the paper, with input from A.A., E. Boss, E. Bourgois, R.T., S.G.A., P.B., E.B., M.B., S.C., C.d.V., T.O.D., D.E., L.G., D.I., S.K., H.M., F.L., R.P., J.J.P.K., G.P., A.R., G.S.-K., L.S., M.B.S., S.S., P.W., O.Z., D.A., J.B., R.F., E.H., B.R., R.C., I.C., M.C., A.E.K., W.H.C.F.K., M.O., N.P., D.M.P., I.S., T.M.T., J. Vamathevan and J. Vanaverbeke.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chris Bowler.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Microbiology thanks Oded Beja, Hebe Mónica Dionisi, Jack Gilbert and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Tara Ocean Foundation., Tara Oceans., European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). et al. Priorities for ocean microbiome research. Nat Microbiol 7, 937–947 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01145-5

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