NAI
2003 Annual Science Report
Marine Biological Laboratory
Reporting | JUL 2002 – JUN 2003
Executive Summary
Environmental Genomes and the Evolution of Complex Systems in Simple Organisms
Biology imposes an overwhelming force on planetary change through biogeochemical processes that originated in ~3.5 billion year old microbial communities. Through metabolic activities, microorganisms orchestrate key processes in carbon fixation, geochemical cycling, biodegradation and atmospheric change. For at least 80 percent of our evolutionary history, microbes were the only forms of life. By comparison, the multicellular world of plants, animals and fungi are derived forms whose continued existence is completely dependent upon a microbial world of uncharted diversity. Whether biological systems similar to those on Earth ever occurred or continue to function on other planets or large satellites is unresolved but if life occurs elsewhere in our solar system, it will be microbial in form.
The primary objectives of the Astrobiology Team at the Marine Biological Laboratory are rooted in delineating the evolutionary ...
Continue reading.-
Mitchell Sogin
NAI, ASTEP, ASTID, Exobiology -
TEAM Active Dates:
7/1998 - 10/2003 CAN 1 -
Members:
40 (See All) - Visit Team Page
Project Reports
-
Microbial Symbionts: Agents for Reorganizing Genome Architectures.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.2 5.1 5.2 6.2 -
Evolution of Proteins
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.2 3.4 5.1 -
Eukaryotic Biodiversity and Physiology at Acidic Extremes: Spain’s Tinto River
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5.1 -
Eukaryotic rRNA Evolution: Origins of “Crown Group Taxa”
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.2 5.1 -
Eukaryotic Origins and the Evolution of Cellular Complexity – Eukaryotic rRNA Evolution: Early Diverging Eukaryotes
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 -
Ecological Genomics
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 -
Micro*scope (http://www.mbl.edu/microscope) – A Web-Based Tool for Microbial Diversity Research
micro*scope (http://www.mbl.edu/microscope) is an innovative biodiversity bioinformatics web site that greatly improves access to information about microbes
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.2 5.2 6.1 6.2 -
Genes That Regulate Photosymbiotic Interactions
We are interested in identifying genes that may impart symbiotic competence to the dinoflagellate symbionts of planktonic protists (foraminifera and radiolaria).
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.2 5.1 5.2 -
Diversity and Physiology of Prokaryotes in Selected Thermophilic and Mesophilic Environments That Might Resemble Early Earth’s Biosphere
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3
Publications
- There are no publications for this team in the 2003 annual report.
2003 Teams
-
Arizona State University
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Harvard University
Marine Biological Laboratory
Michigan State University
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA Johnson Space Center
Pennsylvania State University
Scripps Research Institute
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Rhode Island
University of Washington
Virtual Planetary Laboratory (JPL/CalTech)