Microbial community composition and functions through metagenomics

Abstract

Metagenomic approaches have provided a better understanding of microbial diversity and function across the terrestrial biome. Initial studies on soil metagenomics involved construction of libraries and sequencing of cloned genes to know the product encoded, but now a days direct sequence-based information plays an important role in functional profiling of environmental DNA. The rich information obtained from soil metagenome provides new insight into the taxonomic and functional diversity of soil microorganism. Some of the techniques of molecular biology research such as clone-based gene sequence analysis, molecular fingerprinting, next-generation sequencing, and many others have proved very useful in analyzing unknown environmental DNA sample and opened a flux gate of exciting research finding. Additionally, development of new environmental DNA isolation method as well as improved cloning systems has accelerated the pace of research. More importantly, metagenomic tools have resulted in discovery of several novel genes coding for protease, lipase, amylase, alcohol oxi- doreductase, antibiotic resistance, etc., from ecological niches including meadows, crop fields, and others. With metagenomic approaches, new dimension in the characterization of complex microbial community has been attained. Surely, metagenomic approaches can be used to build a predictive understanding of how microbial diversity and function vary across terrestrial biome.