A study published in Nature Microbiology shows for the first time that a small nitrogen-fixing symbiosis contributes extensively to the total nitrogen fixation in the tropical North Atlantic. Nitrogen fixation is the largest source of nitrogen to the open ocean, and this symbiosis is thus a key p...
At the margins of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) at ultralow oxygen concentrations, aerobic ammonium and nitrite oxidizers compete for nitrogen with anaerobic microorganisms. Thus they play an important but so far overlooked role in controlling nitrogen loss in OMZs.
Tropical Porites corals adjust their internal pH to enable themselves to form calcium carbonate and grow under elevated carbon dioxide concentrations – even for a longer period of time. New investigations reveal that the corals’ adaptability has its limits.
Hydrothermal vents in the deep sea are hundreds and thousands of kilometers apart and their inhabitants are isolated and not directly connected to each other. And yet there is clearly some sort of exchange between individual vents as similar species can be found at vents that are very far apart f...
Climate change has focused attention on burgeoning oxygen minimum zones. Newly discovered SAR11 bacteria deplete nitrogen, essential life nutrient.
Bacteria may play a larger role in the melting of glaciers than previously suspected, according to a paper published in Nature Biofilms and Microbiomes. Scientists from Montana State University and MPI Bremen show how the spatial organisation of microbes leads to an efficient transfer of nutrient...
Day in, day out, in the smallest of spaces with your greatest enemy. Sounds unbearable? In the world of microbes, this has been everyday life for billions of years. This supposedly direful proximity can lead to unusual partnerships, as a study by researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Marine...
From June 1, 2016, our institute is excited to welcome a new research group: Headed by Boran Kartal, the new group is dedicated to the field of microbial physiology.
Invitation to the MPI Seminar
We cordially invite you to join an exciting talk of the american scientist Mitchell L. Sogin from Josephine Bay Paul Center, Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, USA) on Monday, May 30.
No two bacteria are identical – even when they are genetically the same. A new study reveals the conditions under which bacteria become individualists and how they help their group grow when times get tough.