The genetic repertoire of deep-sea microbiome: From sequence to structure and function.

Deep-sea microbiomes harbor 502 million genes with extensive sequence diversity and conserved protein structures, highlighting their evolutionary and biotechnological significance.

• Why it matters: Understanding the genetic and structural makeup of deep-sea microbes addresses a major knowledge gap about this extreme environment's biodiversity and potential applications, which remains largely unexplored.
• What they did: The study analyzed 2,138 deep-sea samples, predicting 2.4 million protein structures and linking genetic variants to functions, especially focusing on proteins involved in DNA processes and their rapid evolution.
• The result: Findings reveal deep-sea microbes as a source of novel genetic diversity and specialized proteins, such as a unique helicase, that can enhance biotechnological tools like nanopore sequencing.