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Microorganisms have key roles in carbon and nutrient cycling, animal (including human) and plant health, agriculture and the global food web. Microorganisms live in all environments on Earth that are occupied by macroscopic organisms, and they are the sole life forms in other environments, such as the deep subsurface and ‘extreme’ environments.
In the ocean, animal–microbial relationships were historically explored in single host–symbiont systems. However, new explorations into the diversity of marine microorganisms associating with diverse marine animal hosts is moving the field into studies that address interactions between the animal host and a more multi-member microbiome .
The crypts house symbiont bacteria Vibrio fischeri. They emit light during night time to camouflage themselves against the moon and star light coming down the ocean. It helps them to avoid predators. The symbiosis process begins when Peptidoglycan shed by the sea water bacteria comes in contact to the ciliated epithelial cells of the light ...
Pelagibacter ubique and its relatives may be the most abundant microorganisms in the ocean, and it has been claimed that they are possibly the most abundant bacteria in the world. They make up about 25% of all microbial plankton cells, and in the summer they may account for approximately half the cells present in temperate ocean surface water.
Life originated as marine single-celled prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) and later evolved into more complex eukaryotes. Eukaryotes are the more developed life forms known as plants, animals, fungi and protists. Protists are the eukaryotes that cannot be classified as plants, fungi or animals. They are mostly single-celled and microscopic.
Despite their varied roles, remarkably little is known about the diversity of this major branch of eukaryotic life in marine ecosystems or their ecological functions. [6] Fungi represent a large and diverse group of microorganisms in microbiological communities in the marine environment and have an important role in nutrient cycling. [7]
The dominant hosts for viruses in the ocean are marine microorganisms, such as bacteria. [14] Bacteriophages are harmless to plants and animals, and are essential to the regulation of marine and freshwater ecosystems [ 91 ] are important mortality agents of phytoplankton , the base of the foodchain in aquatic environments. [ 92 ]
Bacteria. In the microbial food web, bacteria play a crucial role in breaking down organic materials and recycling nutrients. They transform DOC into bacterial biomass so that protists and other higher trophic levels can consume it. Additionally, bacteria take part in the nitrogen and carbon cycles, among other biogeochemical cycles. [4] Algae