New gene-based model suggests, for microbes, it’s not who you are but what you do

Amazing diversity hides beneath the surface of the ocean where tiny microbes work busily; transforming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into oxygen, converting sunlight into energy, and breaking down nitrogen gas to serve as food. University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science researcher Victoria Coles and her team have developed a new tool that advances our understanding of how these microbes maintain this complex ocean chemistry.