Microbiomics: An approach to community microbiology

Abstract

Many biologists have known that there are many groups of microorganisms that, although they cannot be cultured, do exist and influence the life of mammals, plants, and other small multicellular organisms. Nowadays, many new sequencing techniques have been developed that, with very high precision, can identify the presence of these microorganisms and how they affect others. The microbiota of humans and plants can be studied, and their effects on health and growth are becoming known using the transcriptome analysis of interaction. Life on earth has evolved over billions of years, and its most initial form—the microorganism—has evolved in gradually changing environmental conditions. They are present everywhere: From high temperatures to freezing conditions, in water and in air, on surfaces and in inner cavities. Despite centuries of research, the world of microorganisms is not fully known, as only a fraction (0.001) of it is able to be cultured, thus leaving a world little known to us. Initially, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques, and later 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences, allowed a view into this hidden microbial diversity and provided knowledge about uncultured microbes. Microbiomic analyses made it possible to know about and culture members of previously unknown groups of certain microbiomes. Similarly, nucleic acid probes with fluorescent labels can identify even single cells in situ, and sequence-based analyses using random sequencing, as well as cloning of complete microbiomes, has facilitated the reconstruction of genomes. Transcriptomes and proteomes of microbiomes have provided microbiologists with opportunities to switch from diversity studies to that of functional microbiomics. Soil, which is essential for plants, is an ocean of microorganisms that affect plants largely through roots and on aerial surrounds. The study of microbiomics helps in the identification of new groups involved in plant diseases from the rhizosphere microbiome. The application of new groups of microorganisms and their interactions are enormous in the fields of food, human health, and plant health.