Biological dark matter

Biological dark matter is an informal term for unclassified or poorly understood

Much of the genomic dark matter is thought to originate from ancient

Up to 99% of all living microorganisms cannot be cultured,^{[13][14][15][16][17]} so few functional insights exist about the metabolic potential of these organisms.

Sequences that are believed to be derived from unknown microbes are referred to as the microbial dark matter,^[18] the dark virome,^[19] or dark matter fungi.^[20] Such sequences are not rare. It has been estimated that in material from humans, between 40 and 90% of viral sequences are from dark matter.^[21][22][23] Human blood contains over three thousand different DNA sequences which cannot yet be identified.^[24] A mycological study from 2023 found that dark matter fungi seem to dominate the fungal kingdom. ^[25]

Algorithms have been developed that examine sequences for similarities to bacterial

In February 2023, scientists reported the findings of unusual DNA strands from the microorganisms in "dark microbiome" in the driest non-polar desert on the Earth.^[35][36]

See also

• List of unsolved problems in biology – Biological concepts and questions with insufficienct resolutions
• Microbiological culture – Method of allowing microorganisms to multiply in a controlled medium
• Microbiome – Microbial community assemblage and activity
• Shadow biosphere – Hypothetical biosphere of Earth
• Taxonomy – Science of naming, defining and classifying organisms
• Xenobiology – Science of synthetic life forms

References