Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: thedoc on 30/10/2012 17:03:13

Title: Why conserve microbes?
Post by: thedoc on 30/10/2012 17:03:13

We should definitely conserve everything that we can.  Mankind is responsible for the biggest loss of species on mother Earth.  We don't know, yet, what will be required to ensure our survival in the future.  Thus we should be having a maximum of reserves within the gene pool to be able to react on collapsing eco systems.
Asked by Dirk Dombrowski, Facebook


                                        Visit the webpage for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/20121028/)

 

Title: Why conserve microbes?
Post by: thedoc on 30/10/2012 17:03:13

We answered this question on the show...



Gareth -   I think the coming approach now with this capacity to sequence at huge levels is to just do all the DNA in the habitat and whilst you can also see what organisms are there, you also are looking at individual genes and pathways.  And that’s going to explore huge biotechnological potential.  
Ben -   So, it’s not just looking at interesting DNA, but actually, how all of these fit together, also, the epigenetic factors, the things that control the expression of different genes.
Gareth -   Yes.  There's a fair bit of work to do having done that as well because you got to put them together into genome sequences and work out the genetic pathways that make these novel pathways work.  There is huge scope there.  I think it’s going to be quite transformative of our knowledge of the processes that happen in these natural ecosystems.