Symbiosis research at the end of the millenium

Abstract

The development of symbiosis research over the closing 50 years of the last millenium is reviewed. At the beginning of this period, there had been very little previous research into aquatic microbial symbiosis. The advent of new experimental techniques, combined with the developing acceptance of the symbiotic origin of eukaryotic cell structure (and especially that chloroplasts evolved from a symbiosis involving photosynthetic aquatic microbes) brought symbiosis research into much greater prominence for a time in the 1970s and 1980s. Nevertheless, at the end of the millenuim, symbiosis as a subject still lacks a clear and strong identity amongst biologists in general. Three reasons are identified for this: continuing absence of a generally accepted definition of the term; little or no representation in the academic structure of biology; and the current adverse climate of research funding in many countries. However, the growing importance of symbiosis in biotechnology and in conserving biodiversity makes future prospects much brighter.