Contributions of single-cell genomics to our understanding of planktonic marine archaea

Single-cell genomics has transformed many fields of biology, marine microbiology included. Here, we consider the impact of single-cell genomics on a specific group of marine microbes—the planktonic marine archaea. Despite single-cell enabled discoveries of novel metabolic function in the marine thau...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2019-11, Vol.374 (1786), p.1-8
Main Authors: Santoro, A. E., Kellom, M., Laperriere, S. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Review
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Summary:Single-cell genomics has transformed many fields of biology, marine microbiology included. Here, we consider the impact of single-cell genomics on a specific group of marine microbes—the planktonic marine archaea. Despite single-cell enabled discoveries of novel metabolic function in the marine thaumarchaea, population-level investigations are hindered by an overall lower than expected recovery of thaumarchaea in single-cell studies. Metagenome-assembled genomes have so far been a more useful method for accessing genome-resolved insights into the Marine Group II euryarchaea. Future progress in the application of single-cell genomics to archaeal biology in the ocean would benefit from more targeted sorting approaches, and a more systematic investigation of potential biases against archaea in single-cell workflows including cell lysis, genome amplification and genome screening. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Single cell ecology'.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970