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Abstract

Microbes are the "unseen majority" of living organisms on Earth and main drivers of the biogeochemical cycles in marine and most other environments. Their significance for an intact biosphere is bringing environmental bacteria increasingly into the focus of genome-based science. Proteomics is playing a prominent role for providing a molecular understanding of how these microbes work and for identifying the key biocatalysts involved in the major biogeochemical processes. This overview describes the major insights obtained from two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE) analyses of specific degradation pathways, complex metabolic networks, cellular processes, and regulatory patterns in the marine aerobic heterotrophs Rhodopirellula baltica SH1 (Planctomycetes) and Phaeobacter gallaeciensis DSM 17395 (Roseobacter clade) and the anaerobic aromatic compound degrader Aromatoleum aromaticum EbN1 (Betaproteobacteria).