Genes added to this marine protist (left) show up as green dots (right) under a fluorescence microscope. By Elizabeth PennisiFifty percent of the oxygen we breathe comes from ocean microbes.
Yet these tiny marine organisms have largely remained a mystery to science. Now, thanks to the efforts of more than 100 researchers around the globe, scientists have found a way to unlock the genomes of a handful of these creatures by genetically engineering their DNA.The study “will propel advances in plankton biology,” says Angela Falciatore, a marine biologist with CNRS, the French national research agency, at Sorbonne University who was not involved with the work.