Abstract

Over the last decade or two, advancements in sequencing technologies, principally meta-barcoding and metagenomics, have revealed a missing microbial majority in the ocean biome. These novel linages of microbes play an important role in biogeochemical cycling and are at the basis of the oceanic food web. However, with the exception of a handful of cases their role in the community they live in is poorly understood, not helped by the fact many of these novel lineages are currently unculturable. In this project we are attempting to illuminate possible microbial interactions based on B vitamin exchange by utilising recent sequencing efforts. By identifying present and absent B vitamin biosynthesis pathways we can begin to understand why certain microbes might interact. The project is using a sequence similarity approach (BLAST and protein domain annotation) to identify known biosynthesis genes in novel lineages of the Stramenopile super group of the Eukaryotic tree of life. The diversity within this group allows us to study a wide range of lifestyles and habitats and ultimately exploring how and why B vitamin auxotrophy might occur.