NPG library
Below is a selection of News and Views, Research Highlights, Reviews, Research Articles, Perspectives and Commentaries published by Nature Publishing Group journals on the topic of Sustainability.
Reviews
Resourceful heterotrophs make the most of light in the coastal ocean
Mary Ann Moran & William L. Miller
doi:10.1038/nrmicro1746
Nature Reviews Microbiology 5, 792-800 (2007)
In coastal systems mixed metabolic strategies of marine heterotrophic bacteria have implications for how efficiently organic carbon is retained in the marine food web, and how climatically important gases are exchanged between the ocean and the atmosphere. These resourceful heterotrophs use light, either directly or indirectly, to obtain supplemental energy and decrease their reliance on organic matter. This Review highlights these mechanisms and their importance to coastal carbon cycling by marine bacteria.
The role of ecological theory in microbial ecology
James I. Prosser, Brendan J. M. Bohannan, Tom P. Curtis, Richard J. Ellis, Mary K. Firestone, Rob P. Freckleton, Jessica L. Green, Laura E. Green, Ken Killham, Jack J. Lennon, A. Mark Osborn, Martin Solan, Christopher J. van der Gast & J. Peter W. Young
doi:10.1038/nrmicro1643
Nature Reviews Microbiology 5, 384-392 (2007)
In recent years microbial ecology has experienced a renaissance. In this Essay, a group of leading microbial ecologists argue that the key to realizing the full potential of this renaissance lies in theory.
Microbial ecology meets electrochemistry: electricity-driven and driving communities
Korneel Rabaey, Jorge Rodríguez, Linda L Blackall, Jurg Keller, Pamela Gross, Damien Batstone, Willy Verstraete & Kenneth H Nealson
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.4
The ISME Journal 1, 9-18 (May 2007)
New processes and players in the nitrogen cycle: the microbial ecology of anaerobic and archaeal ammonia oxidation
Christopher A Francis, J Michael Beman & Marcel M M Kuypers
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.8
The ISME Journal 1, 19-27 (May 2007)
Microorganisms pumping iron: anaerobic microbial iron oxidation and reduction
Karrie A. Weber, Laurie A. Achenbach & John D. Coates
doi:10.1038/nrmicro1490
Nature Reviews Microbiology 4, 752-764 (2006)
Anaerobic microbial iron oxidation and reduction contributes significantly to soil and sediment biogeochemistry and mineralogy in anaerobic environments. Here, Weber and colleagues review the diversity of microorganisms involved in these processes, and the unique biochemical challenges associated with utilizing an insoluble metal substrate.
Bug juice: harvesting electricity with microorganisms
Derek R. Lovley
doi:10.1038/nrmicro1442
Nature Reviews Microbiology 4, 497-508 (2006)
It is well established that microorganisms can convert organic matter into electricity in devices known as microbial fuel cells. Recent discoveries, however, suggest new strategies for the highly efficient microbial conversion of waste into electricity through stable, self-sustaining systems. Here, Derek Lovley reviews the microbiology of electricity production.
Perspectives
How biotech can transform biofuels
Lee R Lynd, Mark S Laser, David Bransby, Bruce E Dale, Brian Davison, Richard Hamilton, Michael Himmel, Martin Keller, James D McMillan, John Sheehan & Charles E Wyman
doi:10.1038/nbt0208-169
Nature Biotechnology 26, 169-172 (2008)
Anammox bacteria: from discovery to application
J. Gijs Kuenen
doi:10.1038/nrmicro1857
Nature Reviews Microbiology 6, 320-326 (2008)
Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria, which combine ammonium and nitrite or nitrate to form nitrogen gas, were discovered in the early 1990s. Here, Gijs Kuenen recalls the discovery of these bacteria and the subsequent elucidation of their roles in environmental and industrial microbiology.
Biophysical controls on organic carbon fluxes in fluvial networks
Tom J. Battin, Louis A. Kaplan, Stuart Findlay, Charles S. Hopkinson, Eugenia Marti, Aaron I. Packman, J. Denis Newbold & Francesc Sabater
doi:10.1038/ngeo101
Nature Geoscience 1, 95-100 (2008)
Microbial ecology and environmental biotechnology
Willy Verstraete
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.7
The ISME Journal 1, 4-8 (May 2007)
Research articles
Temperature thresholds for bacterial symbiosis with a sponge
Nicole S Webster, Rose E Cobb & Andrew P Negri
doi:10.1038/ismej.2008.42
The ISME Journal advanced online publication, (May 2008)
Applying stable isotope probing of phospholipid fatty acids and rRNA in a Chinese rice field to study activity and composition of the methanotrophic bacterial communities in situ
Qiongfen Qiu, Matthias Noll, Wolf-Rainer Abraham, Yahai Lu & Ralf Conrad
doi:10.1038/ismej.2008.34
The ISME Journal advanced online publication, (April 2008)
Numbers, biomass and cultivable diversity of microbial populations relate to depth and borehole-specific conditions in groundwater from depths of 4–450 m in Olkiluoto, Finland
Karsten Pedersen, Johanna Arlinger, Sara Eriksson, Anna Hallbeck, Lotta Hallbeck & Jessica Johansson
doi:10.1038/ismej.2008.43
The ISME Journal advanced online publication, (April 2008)
Regulation of nif gene expression and the energetics of N2 fixation over the diel cycle in a hot spring microbial mat
Anne-Soisig Steunou, Sheila I Jensen, Eric Brecht, Eric D Becraft, Mary M Bateson, Oliver Kilian, Devaki Bhaya, David M Ward, John W Peters, Arthur R Grossman & Michael Kühl
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.117
The ISME Journal 2, 364-378 (April 2008)
Cathodic oxygen reduction catalyzed by bacteria in microbial fuel cells
Korneel Rabaey, Suzanne T Read, Peter Clauwaert, Stefano Freguia, Philip L Bond, Linda L Blackall & Jurg Keller
doi:10.1038/ismej.2008.1
The ISME Journal 2, 519-527 (May 2008)
Response of fermentation and sulfate reduction to experimental temperature changes in temperate and Arctic marine sediments
Niko Finke & Bo Barker Jørgensen
doi:10.1038/ismej.2008.20
The ISME Journal advanced online publication, (Februrary 2008)
Nitrogen fixation in an anticyclonic eddy in the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean
Allison A Fong, David M Karl, Roger Lukas, Ricardo M Letelier, Jonathan P Zehr & Matthew J Church
doi:10.1038/ismej.2008.22
The ISME Journal 2, 663-676 (June 2008)
Toward a mechanistic understanding of how natural bacterial communities respond to changes in temperature in aquatic ecosystems
Edward K Hall, Claudia Neuhauser & James B Cotner
doi:10.1038/ismej.2008.9
The ISME Journal 2, 471-481 (May 2008)
Non-fermentative pathways for synthesis of branched-chain higher alcohols as biofuels
Shota Atsumi, Taizo Hanai & James C. Liao
doi:10.1038/nature06450
Nature 451, 86-89 (2008)
Molecular and biogeochemical evidence for ammonia oxidation by marine Crenarchaeota in the Gulf of California
J Michael Beman, Brian N Popp & Christopher A Francis
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.118
The ISME Journal 2, 429-441 (April 2007)
Thermodynamic constraints on methanogenic crude oil biodegradation
Jan Dolfing, Stephen R Larter & Ian M Head
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.111
The ISME Journal 2, 442-452 (April 2007)
Bacteria are not the primary cause of bleaching in the Mediterranean coral Oculina patagonica
T D Ainsworth, M Fine, G Roff & O Hoegh-Guldberg
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.88
The ISME Journal 2, 67-73 (January 2007)
Changes in coral-associated microbial communities during a bleaching event
David Bourne, Yuki Iida, Sven Uthicke & Carolyn Smith-Keune
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.112
The ISME Journal 2, 350-363 (April 2007)
Interactions between bacterial carbon monoxide and hydrogen consumption and plant development on recent volcanic deposits
Gary M King & Carolyn F Weber
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.101
The ISME Journal 2, 195-203 (February 2007)
Effects of temperature on the diversity and community structure of known methanogenic groups and other archaea in high Arctic peat
Lone Høj, Rolf A Olsen & Vigdis L Torsvik
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.84
The ISME Journal 2, 37-48 (January 2007)
Organic substrate quality as the link between bacterioplankton carbon demand and growth efficiency in a temperate salt-marsh estuary
Jude K Apple & P A del Giorgio
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.86
The ISME Journal 1, 729-742 (December 2007)
Subsurface clade of Geobacteraceae that predominates in a diversity of Fe(III)-reducing subsurface environments
Dawn E Holmes, Regina A O'Neil, Helen A Vrionis, Lucie A N'Guessan, Irene Ortiz-Bernad, Maria J Larrahondo, Lorrie A Adams, Joy A Ward, Julie S Nicoll, Kelly P Nevin, Milind A Chavan, Jessica P Johnson, Philip E Long & Derek R Lovley
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.85
The ISME Journal 1, 663-677 (December 2007)
The effect of experimental warming on the root-associated fungal community of Salix arctica
Kei E Fujimura, Keith N Egger & Gregory H R Henry
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.89
The ISME Journal 2, 105-114 (January 2007)
Phytoplankton carbon fixation gene (RuBisCO) transcripts and air-sea CO2 flux in the Mississippi River plume
David E John, Zhaohui A Wang, Xuewu Liu, Robert H Byrne, Jorge E Corredor, José M López, Alvaro Cabrera, Deborah A Bronk, F Robert Tabita & John H Paul
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.70
The ISME Journal 1, 517-531 (October 2007)
Biological and chemical sulfide oxidation in a Beggiatoa inhabited marine sediment
André Preisler, Dirk de Beer, Anna Lichtschlag, Gaute Lavik, Antje Boetius & Bo Barker Jørgensen
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.50
The ISME Journal 1, 341-353 (August 2007)
Functional microarray analysis of nitrogen and carbon cycling genes across an Antarctic latitudinal transect
Etienne Yergeau, Sanghoon Kang, Zhili He, Jizhong Zhou & George A Kowalchuk
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.24
The ISME Journal 1, 163-179 (June 2007)
GeoChip: a comprehensive microarray for investigating biogeochemical, ecological and environmental processes
Zhili He, Terry J Gentry, Christopher W Schadt, Liyou Wu, Jost Liebich, Song C Chong, Zhijian Huang, Weimin Wu, Baohua Gu, Phil Jardine, Craig Criddle & Jizhong Zhou
doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.2
The ISME Journal 1, 67-77 (May 2007)
