THE VOYAGE OF SORCERER II

Seagoing research is a burgeoning popular science genre, and this is a solid addition.

The central figure is Venter, biotechnologist and entrepreneur, best known for racing (and probably winning) the competition to sequence the human genome in 2000. Less well known is the team, led by Venter, that sequenced the first cellular genome—that of a bacteria—in 1995. Fascinated by infectious disease since his Navy service in Vietnam and obsessed with learning how life works, Venter discovered that simple life forms are more complicated than scientists thought and that the genes of microbes “were trying to tell us far more than we could understand.” Never shy about taking risks and skilled at acquiring grants, Venter decided to explore the dominant life form on Earth, microorganisms, in the planet’s largest, mostly unexplored habitat: the ocean. Using his cutting-edge “shotgun genomic sequencing,” Venter’s researchers would blast DNA from an organism (or from hundreds or thousands of organisms) into short fragments and then use sequencing machines to identify them and computers to find overlaps in order to reassemble them and compare them to existing bacterial genomes. Vastly cheaper and faster than the old method of culturing individual bacteria in a petri dish, this method allowed his team and their ship, the Sorcerer II, sailing the world for 15 years, to discover millions of novel genes in thousands of new and often bizarre bacterial and viral species. Writing with award-winning science journalist Duncan, Venter presents a lively account of a groundbreaking exploration of the microbiome of the Earth’s waters. Toward the end, the authors explain a modest amount of science and deliver the obligatory bad news about humanity’s poisoning and littering of the oceans, but throughout, they emphasize adventure: storms, accidents, clashing personalities, equipment functions and malfunctions, political and bureaucratic difficulties, little-known global cultures, triumphs, and disappointments.

Important and adventurous science on the high seas.