The Microbe Project
"to maximize the opportunities offered by genome-enabled microbial science to benefit science and society, through coordinated interagency efforts to promote research, infrastructure development, education and outreach"

The microbial world is vast and diverse. The Earth hosts over 10³⁰ microorganisms, representing the largest component of the planet's biomass. Microbes include bacteria, archaea, mollicutes, fungi, microalgae, viruses and protozoa---organisms with a wide range of morphologies and lifestyles. Microorganisms have colonized virtually every environment on Earth ranging from deep sea thermal vents, polar sea ice, desert rocks, guts of termites, roots of plants, to the human body. While microbes are often feared for the diseases they may cause, other microorganisms mediate the essential biogeochemical cycles of key elements that make our planet habitable.  Ancient lineages of microorganisms may hold the key to understanding the earliest history of life on Earth.