Did microbes assist life in colonizing land?
(PHYSorg.com Biology)

All living organisms exist and function only in cooperation with an abundance of symbiotic microorganisms, and have developed together with them over the course of the earth`s history. This central finding of modern life sciences has led researchers worldwide to analyze the highly complex interactions and long-term bonds of host organisms and microbes in ever greater detail. Gradually, they want to achieve a new functional understanding of biology and the development of life. In the analysis of the complex interactions within the so-called metaorganism, the unit consisting of a body and the totality of its microbial colonization, in short the microbiome, scientists use techniques such as genome sequencing. These technologies make it possible to analyze genetic information from large quantities of biological sample material and, thanks to new high-throughput methods, quickly assign it to specific organisms and, in some cases, to possible functions.