What is "Systems Microbiology"?
Seeks to discover how microbial functions evolve and respond & how emergent properties in single cells and complex microbial communities arise
Microbial life has been closely intertwined with natural environmental systems for nearly the entire history of Earth. Their small size and spectacularly diverse metabolic activities permit microorganisms to inhabit an extreme range of niches.
Microorganisms inhabit all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (i.e., coastal and deep sea, Antarctic dry valleys, subsurface contaminated with radioactive elements (and 1 in 10 ‘human’ cells is a microbial cell).
Microorganisms exert a tremendous influence on the entire biosphere, e.g., transferring energy and materials across complex biotic and abiotic interfaces, controlling biogeochemical cycles and affecting geology, hydrology and climate patterns at local and global scales.
Interactions between microbes and their environment are dominated by a complex network of biological, chemical and physical processes occurring at scales ranging from nano- to ecosystem scale.
(vast and largely untapped)