Author Topic: Sequence EVERYTHING!  (Read 6068 times)

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Offline Vene

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Sequence EVERYTHING!
« on: January 07, 2012, 12:08:14 pm »
I found this over at PLoS Biology, titled "A Holistic Approach to Marine Eco-Systems Biology" by the people over at the Earth Microbiome Project. They are quite mad. They have the goal of sequencing the genome of every single species of microorganism (archaea, bacteria, protista, virus, even animals) on the planet. This is only possible due to new technology, metagenomic sequencing. They are able to grab a sample and concurrently sequence the genomes of every organism in the sample at the same time.

The paper in particular talks about their approach for grabbing samples from the ocean (during a 3 year expedition) and the methods they are using to determine the character of the microbiome. Not just the genes, but also the aggregate metabolism and modeling the ecosystems.

In summary, a very ambitious and awesome goal which uses very intricate and multidisciplinary methods which should greatly improve our understanding of life on Earth.

Offline Old Viking

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Re: Sequence EVERYTHING!
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2012, 09:14:49 pm »
What's in it for me?
I am an old man, and I've seen many problems, most of which never happened.

Offline StallChaser

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Re: Sequence EVERYTHING!
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2012, 06:27:02 am »
What's in it for me?

Breakthroughs in medical research (live longer), materials (cool toys), and most importantly, kittens that glow in the dark.  And stay kittens.

Offline MaybeNever

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Re: Sequence EVERYTHING!
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2012, 02:10:44 pm »
What's in it for me?

Breakthroughs in medical research (live longer), materials (cool toys), and most importantly, kittens that glow in the dark.  And stay kittens.

Yeah, but how does it hurt people? That's what I want to see. Is it explosions? We can't use "medicine" to invade Iran!
"Great Britain's two most senior military officers added to the uneasiness. [...] Lord Wolseley, Adjutant General, thought that it might be possible for an enemy to invade without waiters and pastrycooks."
-Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought

Offline Vene

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Re: Sequence EVERYTHING!
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2012, 02:23:33 pm »
What's in it for me?

Breakthroughs in medical research (live longer), materials (cool toys), and most importantly, kittens that glow in the dark.  And stay kittens.

Yeah, but how does it hurt people? That's what I want to see. Is it explosions? We can't use "medicine" to invade Iran!
Don't worry, there is often very little difference between medicine and poison.

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Re: Sequence EVERYTHING!
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2012, 02:53:29 am »
A better understanding of medicine helps make a better poison. Yeah, a lay person can break something. But someone who knows how it works can break it so much harder.

Offline Søren

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Re: Sequence EVERYTHING!
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2012, 03:51:36 am »
Oh man this is so cool. I hope I get to work on a project like this one day
Faisons lever l'étoile du mérite passé.  Le monde a besoin de lumière,  Le monde a besoin de la France,  La France a besoin de tous les Français.