A wide array of microorganisms, including many novel, phylogenetically deeply rooted taxa,
survive and thrive in extreme environments. These unique and reduced-complexity …

We present two standards developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) for
reporting bacterial and archaeal genome sequences. Both are extensions of the Minimum …

Microbial and viral communities transform the chemistry of Earth's ecosystems, yet the
specific reactions catalyzed by these biological engines are hard to decode due to the …

Challenges in cultivating microorganisms have limited the phylogenetic diversity of currently
available microbial genomes. This is being addressed by advances in sequencing …

Manganese is one of the most abundant elements on Earth. The oxidation of manganese
has long been theorized—yet has not been demonstrated,–—to fuel the growth of …

Practical experiments drive important scientific discoveries in biology, but theory‐based
research studies also contribute novel—sometimes paradigm‐changing—findings. Here, we …

Microbial communities are critical to ecosystem function. A key objective of metagenomic
studies is to analyse organism-specific metabolic pathways and reconstruct community …

The recent recovery of genomes for organisms from phyla with no isolated representative
(candidate phyla) via cultivation-independent genomics enabled delineation of major new …

The tree of life is one of the most important organizing principles in biology 1. Gene surveys
suggest the existence of an enormous number of branches 2, but even an approximation of …

The subterranean world hosts up to one-fifth of all biomass, including microbial communities
that drive transformations central to Earth's biogeochemical cycles. However, little is known …