That was fascinating. Thanks for posting this. It reminds me very much of a book I read called "A New Bacteriology" by Sonea and Panisset.
Near the end, the article says "That bacteria-centric argument is, of course, a hazy, metaphysical Gaian fantasy worthy of Avatar..." I was surprised that it did not mention James Lovelock and his "Gaia hypothesis", which ties in very nicely with this topic. He has both published peer-reviewed papers, and written popular books (search for his name on Amazon).