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Next-generation sequencing—the promise and perils of charting the great microbial unknown

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Snyder, Lori A. S., Loman, Nicholas J., Pallen, Mark J. and Penn, C. W. (2009) Next-generation sequencing—the promise and perils of charting the great microbial unknown. Microbial Ecology, 57 (1). pp. 1-3. doi:10.1007/s00248-008-9465-9

Research output not available from this repository, contact author.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00248-008-9465-9

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Abstract

Studies of microorganisms in pure laboratory culture for over
a century have delivered fruitful insights into microbial
genetics and physiology, underpinning biotechnology, and
molecular biology. Yet most bacteria cannot be or have not
been cultured under laboratory conditions. Microorganisms in
their natural environments live in complex, mixed, and
interdependent microbial communities (e.g. in soil, feces,
sewage, rivers, oceans), with key roles in the biosphere. These
systems are intimately connected with the big challenges for
the future of human existence: agriculture and food production,
diet and health, and impact of human communities on
the natural environment. Knowledge and understanding of the
biodiversity of bacteria is minimal in comparison with the
diversity of higher plants and animals, where perhaps 90–99%
of all species are known. In stark contrast, it is estimated that
less than 1% of bacterial diversity is known. Even in the
human microbial ecosystem, which has perhaps been the most
studied, hundreds of bacterial species prosper yet the majority
have never been cultured and characterized in the laboratory
and their significance to health is unknown. The invisible and
often neglected bacterial component in natural ecosystems
dominates their biological diversity. It often underlies the
unpredictable and sometimes deleterious behavior of natural
systems when perturbed by human activity

Item Type: Journal Article
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Microbiology & Infection
Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Journal or Publication Title: Microbial Ecology
Publisher: Springer
ISSN: 0095-3628
Official Date: January 2009
Dates:
DateEvent
January 2009Published
Volume: 57
Number: 1
Page Range: pp. 1-3
DOI: 10.1007/s00248-008-9465-9
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access

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