Keystone species: Which are most important functional genes in an ecosystem?
Monday, July 20, 2015 - 10:00
in Biology & Nature
Microbial ecosystems such as biological wastewater treatment plants and the human gastrointestinal tract are home to a vast diversity of bacterial species. Scientists have now succeeded for the first time in determining key functional genes and the organisms encoding these in such ecological systems, working from extensive data of bacterial genetics and bacterial metabolism.