Townsville’s Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has helped uncover one of the Great Barrier Reef’s most mysterious layers — its invisible microbiome. A new Nature study has mapped more than 800,000 microbial genomes from seawater across 48 reefs, revealing hundreds of new bacterial species and more than 300,000 viruses.
Using advanced long‑read DNA sequencing, AIMS senior scientist Dr Yun Kit Yeoh says researchers can now track how these microscopic communities respond to bleaching, storms, sediment and other pressures. The team even recovered full chromosomes from key microalgae that produce much of the oxygen we breathe and fuel the Reef’s food chain.
The findings form the new Great Barrier Reef Microbial Genomes Database, giving scientists a powerful tool to monitor reef health and complement AIMS’ four decades of long‑term monitoring.
It’s a major leap in understanding the Reef at its smallest scale driven by marine science here in Townsville.
