7,000 new marine microbial species discovered

BEIJING: Researchers said Monday they have discovered more than 7,000 new microbial species from the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, enhancing our understanding of biodiversity in the world seas.


The scientists at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) discovered the microbial species, including Acidobacteria — a natural medicinal phylum containing the CRISPR gene editing system found at sea for the first time.


Over a span of eight years, the team developed biofilms with the water samples on different materials, eventually discovering the new biofilm-forming species and 10 new bacterial phyla.

The finding, published in the journal Nature Communications, contradicts the existing belief that the world has only 35,000 marine microbial species and 80 bacterial phyla.

It enhances our knowledge in microbial biodiversity of the oceans, bringing hope for the development of new drugs, researchers said.

Acidobacteria -- one of the new marine phyla identified in this research only exist in terrestrial soils, and has been used for developing novel antibiotics and anti-tumour drugs due to its high level of biosynthetic gene clusters.

This marine phylum not only shares functions of its terrestrial counterpart, but is also the first ocean species found to contain the CRISPR gene-editing system, researchers said.

"These species have big potential, both in terms of facilitating our understanding of lives and offering new clues to our search of new treatments for diseases," said Qian Peiyuan from HKUST.

CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of bacterial organisms like Escherichia coli (E-coli).

It confers resistance to foreign plasmids or phages and contains gene-editing capabilities.

The CRISPR technology is now widely used in agro-industrial and pharmaceutical genetic engineering, for example, to improve yield for soybeans, corn and rice through the creation of more pollution and natural disaster-resistant crops.