TY - JOUR

T1 - Nano-Sized and Filterable Bacteria and Archaea

T2 - Biodiversity and Function

AU - Ghuneim, Lydia-Ann

AU - Jones, Davey L.

AU - Golyshin, Peter

AU - Golyshina, Olga

N1 - This work was carried out under the DOMAINE project, which is funded by the United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) (large Grant No. NE/K010689/1). OG and PG acknowledge the support of the Centre of Environmental Biotechnology Project part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Welsh Government and thank the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (Blue Growth: Unlocking the Potential of Seas and Oceans, Grant Agreement No. 634486, Project acronym ‘INMARE’) for its support.

PY - 2018/8/21

Y1 - 2018/8/21

N2 - Nano-sized and filterable microorganisms are thought to represent the smallest living organisms on earth and are characterized by their small size (50–400 nm) and their ability to physically pass through <0.45 μm pore size filters. They appear to be ubiquitous in the biosphere and are present at high abundance across a diverse range of habitats including oceans, rivers, soils, and subterranean bedrock. Small-sized organisms are detected by culture-independent and culture-dependent approaches, with most remaining uncultured and uncharacterized at both metabolic and taxonomic levels. Consequently, their significance in ecological roles remain largely unknown. Successful isolation, however, has been achieved for some species (e.g., Nanoarchaeum equitans and “Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique”). In many instances, small-sized organisms exhibit a significant genome reduction and loss of essential metabolic pathways required for a free-living lifestyle, making their survival reliant on other microbial community members. In these cases, the nano-sized prokaryotes can only be co-cultured with their ‘hosts.’ This paper analyses the recent data on small-sized microorganisms in the context of their taxonomic diversity and potential functions in the environment.

AB - Nano-sized and filterable microorganisms are thought to represent the smallest living organisms on earth and are characterized by their small size (50–400 nm) and their ability to physically pass through <0.45 μm pore size filters. They appear to be ubiquitous in the biosphere and are present at high abundance across a diverse range of habitats including oceans, rivers, soils, and subterranean bedrock. Small-sized organisms are detected by culture-independent and culture-dependent approaches, with most remaining uncultured and uncharacterized at both metabolic and taxonomic levels. Consequently, their significance in ecological roles remain largely unknown. Successful isolation, however, has been achieved for some species (e.g., Nanoarchaeum equitans and “Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique”). In many instances, small-sized organisms exhibit a significant genome reduction and loss of essential metabolic pathways required for a free-living lifestyle, making their survival reliant on other microbial community members. In these cases, the nano-sized prokaryotes can only be co-cultured with their ‘hosts.’ This paper analyses the recent data on small-sized microorganisms in the context of their taxonomic diversity and potential functions in the environment.

U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01971

DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01971

M3 - Article

VL - 9

JO - Frontiers in Microbiology

JF - Frontiers in Microbiology

SN - 1664-302X

M1 - 1971

ER -