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Prochlorococcus
''Prochlorococcus'' is a genus of very small (0.6 μm) marine cyanobacteria with an unusual pigmentation ( chlorophyll ''a2'' and ''b2''). These bacteria belong to the photosynthetic picoplankton and are probably the most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth. ''Prochlorococcus'' microbes are among the major primary producers in the ocean, responsible for a large percentage of the photosynthetic production of oxygen. ''Prochlorococcus'' strains, called ecotypes, have physiological differences enabling them to exploit different ecological niches. Analysis of the genome sequences of ''Prochlorococcus'' strains show that 1,273 genes are common to all strains, and the average genome size is about 2,000 genes. In contrast, eukaryotic algae have over 10,000 genes. The genus and the type species were made validly published names under the ICNP in 2001 with ''Validation list no. 79''. They became valid under the ICNafp in 2020 with the description of Komárek et al. Discov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transmission Electron Microscope
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a specimen to form an image. The specimen is most often an ultrathin section less than 100 nm thick or a suspension on a grid. An image is formed from the interaction of the electrons with the sample as the beam is transmitted through the specimen. The image is then magnified and focused onto an imaging device, such as a fluorescent screen, a layer of photographic film, or a detector such as a scintillator attached to a charge-coupled device or a direct electron detector. Transmission electron microscopes are capable of imaging at a significantly higher resolution than light microscopes, owing to the smaller de Broglie wavelength of electrons. This enables the instrument to capture fine detail—even as small as a single column of atoms, which is thousands of times smaller than a resolvable object seen in a light microscope. Transmission electron micro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ICNP
The International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP) or Prokaryotic Code, formerly the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB) or Bacteriological Code (BC), governs the scientific names for Bacteria and Archaea.P. H. A. Sneath, 2003. A short history of the Bacteriological CodURL It denotes the rules for naming taxa of bacteria, according to their relative rank. As such it is one of the nomenclature codes of biology. Originally the ''International Code of Botanical Nomenclature'' dealt with bacteria, and this kept references to bacteria until these were eliminated at the 1975 International Botanical Congress. An early Code for the nomenclature of bacteria was approved at the 4th International Congress for Microbiology in 1947, but was later discarded. The latest version to be printed in book form is the 1990 Revision, but the book does not represent the current rules. The 2008 and 2022 Revisions have been published in the ''International Journal of Systematic a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabolism. ''Photosynthesis'' usually refers to oxygenic photosynthesis, a process that produces oxygen. Photosynthetic organisms store the chemical energy so produced within intracellular organic compounds (compounds containing carbon) like sugars, glycogen, cellulose and starches. To use this stored chemical energy, an organism's cells metabolize the organic compounds through cellular respiration. Photosynthesis plays a critical role in producing and maintaining the oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere, and it supplies most of the biological energy necessary for complex life on Earth. Some bacteria also perform anoxygenic photosynthesis, which uses bacteriochlorophyll to split hydrogen sulfide as a reductant instead of water, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit the air, soil, water, Hot spring, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria play a vital role in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients and the nitrogen fixation, fixation of nitrogen from the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of cadaver, dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetic Tree
A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In other words, it is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics. In evolutionary biology, all life on Earth is theoretically part of a single phylogenetic tree, indicating common ancestry. Phylogenetics is the study of phylogenetic trees. The main challenge is to find a phylogenetic tree representing optimal evolutionary ancestry between a set of species or taxa. Computational phylogenetics (also phylogeny inference) focuses on the algorithms involved in finding optimal phylogenetic tree in the phylogenetic landscape. Phylogenetic trees may be rooted or unrooted. In a ''rooted'' p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prochloron
''Prochloron'' (from the Greek ''pro'' (before) and the Greek ''chloros'' (green) ) is a genus of unicellular oxygenic photosynthetic prokaryotes commonly found as an extracellular symbiont on coral reefs, particularly in didemnid ascidians (sea squirts). Part of the phylum cyanobacteria, it was theorized ( endosymbiotic theory) that ''Prochloron'' is a predecessor of the photosynthetic components, chloroplasts, found in photosynthetic eukaryotic cells. However this theory is largely refuted by phylogenetic studies which indicate ''Prochloron'' is not on the same line of descent that lead to chloroplast-containing algae and land plants. ''Prochloron'' was discovered in 1975 by Ralph A. Lewin of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. ''Prochloron'' is one of three known prochlorophytes, cyanobacteria that contain both chlorophyll ''a'' and ''b'' bound to a special light-harvesting protein. Surprisingly, unlike most cyanobacteria ''Prochloron'' do not contain the red or blue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the west almost by the Morocco–Spain border. The Mediterranean Sea covers an area of about , representing 0.7% of the global ocean surface, but its connection to the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar—the narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates the Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa—is only wide. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccation, desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years during the Messinian salinity crisis before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago. The sea was an important ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strain (biology)
In biology, a strain is a genetic variant, a subtype or a culture within a biological species. Strains are often seen as inherently artificial concepts, characterized by a specific intent for genetic isolation. This is most easily observed in microbiology where strains are derived from a single cell colony and are typically quarantined by the physical constraints of a Petri dish. Strains are also commonly referred to within virology, botany, and with rodents used in experimental studies. Microbiology and virology It has been said that "there is no universally accepted definition for the terms 'strain', ' variant', and 'isolate' in the virology community, and most virologists simply copy the usage of terms from others". A strain is a genetic variant or subtype of a microorganism such as a bacterial strain or a specific strain of a virus, or fungus. For example, a "flu strain" is a certain biological form of the influenza or "flu" virus. These flu strains are characterized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crafoord Prize
The Crafoord Prize () is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, a Swedish industrialist, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord following a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is awarded jointly by the Academy and the Crafoord Foundation in Lund, with the former selecting the laureates. The Prize is awarded in four categories: mathematics and astronomy, Geology, geosciences, Biology, biosciences (with an emphasis on ecology) and polyarthritis, the final one because Holger suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis in his later years. The disciplines for which the Crafoord Prize is awarded are chosen so as to complement the Nobel Prizes. Only one award is given each year, according to a rotating scheme – astronomy and mathematics, then geosciences, then biosciences. Since 2012, the prizes in astronomy and mathematics are separate and awarded at the same time; prior to this, the disciplines alternated every cycle. A Crafoord Prize in polyarth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flow Cytometry
Flow cytometry (FC) is a technique used to detect and measure the physical and chemical characteristics of a population of cells or particles. In this process, a sample containing cells or particles is suspended in a fluid and injected into the flow cytometer instrument. The sample is focused to ideally flow one cell at a time through a laser beam, where the light scattered is characteristic to the cells and their components. Cells are often labeled with fluorescent markers so light is absorbed and then emitted in a band of wavelengths. Tens of thousands of cells can be quickly examined and the data gathered are processed by a computer. Flow cytometry is routinely used in basic research, clinical practice, and clinical trials. Uses for flow cytometry include: * Cell counting * Cell sorting * Determining cell characteristics and function * Detecting microorganisms * Biomarker detection * Protein engineering detection * Diagnosis of health disorders such as blood cancers * Me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sargasso Sea
The Sargasso Sea () is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Unlike all other regions called seas, it is the only one without land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown '' Sargassum'' seaweed and often calm blue water. The sea is bounded on the west by the Gulf Stream, on the north by the North Atlantic Current, on the east by the Canary Current, and on the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current, the four together forming a clockwise-circulating system of ocean currents termed the North Atlantic Gyre. It lies between 20° and 35° north and 40° and 70° west and is approximately wide by long. Bermuda is near the western fringes of the sea. While all of the above currents deposit marine plants and refuse into the sea, ocean water in the Sargasso Sea is distinctive for its deep blue color and exceptional clarity, with underwater visibility of up to . It is als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it is the largest independent oceanographic research institution in the U.S., with staff and students numbering about 1,000. Constitution The institution is organized into six departments, the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research, and a marine policy center. Its shore-based facilities are located in the village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States and a mile and a half away on the Quissett Campus. The bulk of the institution's funding comes from grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation and other government agencies, augmented by foundations and private donations. WHOI scientists, engineers, and students collaborate to develop theories, test ideas, build seagoing instruments, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
