Biology Biotech


By analysing the genetics of microbes in seawater, it is possible to make predictions about the environmental conditions from which it was taken. Recent advances in bioinformatics and genetic sequencing technology have made this an affordable method for environmental monitoring, but as yet it has not been embraced by the monitoring community. The BONUS BLUEPRINT project, led by Lasse Riemann of the University of Copenhagen, has created a proof of principle that this technique is a viable and important option, and the researchers involved are now pushing for their method to become a new tool for assessing the health of the Baltic Sea.


©vNeuhoff, IOW


Using microbial genetic blueprints to assess the environmental conditions of the sea


The Baltic Sea in northern Europe is the second largest estuary on the planet. Its marked vertical and horizontal salinity gradients have pronounced consequences on the local ecosystem.


This body of water represents an important habitat for the species that reside in it, but also a very fragile one. Its semi-enclosed nature, along with the 85 million people living around it, means that it is prone to build-up of nutrient


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run-off from human activity, causing eutrophication which manifests itself in huge blue-green algal summer blooms and oxygen-deficient bottom waters.


Monitoring of the Baltic Sea has been ramped up in recent years with the introduction of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which has placed new demands on EU nations to monitor and assess the state of the sea using an ecosystem-based approach. However, a


surprising omission in the ongoing monitoring programmes is the option to include microbes (bacteria) in the environmental assessment.


Microbes are known to play a pivotal role in marine ecosystems, carrying out essential processes that regulate nutrient dynamics and overall productivity. Until recently, the lack of microbial monitoring was justified on the grounds that genetic analysis of microbes was too inaccurate,


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