Microbial metagenomics

Abstract

Microorganisms represent vast diversity, attributed to their approximately 3.8 billion years of evolution. The majority of the earth’s biological diversity is comprised of uncultured microorganisms that cannot be cultured following standard techniques. Hence, culture-independent techniques are indispensable to explore the ecological roles, genetic diversity, and population structure of such unculturable microorganisms that otherwise could not be isolated and cultured through standard microbiological techniques due to various constraints. Metagenomics is a culture-independent genomic analysis of microbial community having the potential to answer basic and fundamental questions in microbial ecology. Metagenomics helps in bioprospection of “hidden” genetic traits leading to the development of novel biotechnological applications, through the exploration of novel genes, catalytic enzymes, metabolic pathways, along with bioactive molecules having either new and/or improved biochemical functions. The technique further allows a better understanding of an extreme range of selective pressures in adverse environments, any genomic flexibility thereof, and metabolic versatility of microbial communities.