The integration of microbial diversity research with state of the art functional genomics techniques enables us to assess the complexity of microbial-dominated metabolic circles in a new dimension. The comprehensive analysis of the genomic diversity and activity of marine microorganisms is a key to a better understanding of unexplored microbial interactions in marine ecosystems. Advanced molecular biological methods to determine the theoretical genomic potential and the identification of metatranscriptomes and metaproteomes of marine microbial assemblages as expressed in situ allow for a detailed elucidation of specific microbial activities.
The discussion of these techniques and their potential for the elucidation of bacteria-mediated ecosystem functions will be a focus of this conference.
The cultivation-independent determination of the composition and function of marine microbial communities will broaden our understanding of ecophysiological activities and adaptations of microorganisms in marine habitats. Beyond that, this knowledge has also an enormous biotechnological potential. On the basis of detailed functional genome analyses of cultivable model bacteria, new environmentally relevant metabolic pathways and adaptation strategies can be explored, which might be of biotechnological interest. The conference will present recent results of these new research fields and discuss the potential of molecular methods for the discovery of new natural compounds from marine microorganisms.