Biosensor it affects marine organisms, especially plankton (floating microorganisms) and viruses that attack plankton. Plankton form the base of the marine food chains and are believed to affect our planet's temperature and weather by uptake of CO for photosynthesis. Deneb Karentz, a researcher at the Laboratory of Radio-biology and Environmental Health (University of California, San Francisco) has devised a simple method for measuring ultraviolet penetration and intensity. Working in the Antarctic Ocean, she submerged to various depths thin plastic bags containing special strains of "E. coli" that are almost totally unable to repair ultraviolet radiation damage to their DNA. Bacterial death
Microfungi Microfungi Microfungi are fungi— eukaryotic organisms such as molds, mildews and rusts— which exhibit tube tip-growth and have cell walls composed of chitin, a polymer of "N"-acetylglucosamine. Microfungi are an artificial, paraphyletic group, distinguished from macrofungi only by the absence of a large, multicellular fruiting body. They are ubiquitous in all terrestrial and freshwater and marine environments, and grow in plants, soil, water, insects, cattle rumens, hair, and skin. Most of the fungal body consists of microscopic threads, called hyphae, extending through the substrate in which it grows. The mycelia of microfungi produce spores that are carried by the air,