Metagenomics: genomic analysis of microbial communities.

@article{citeulike:409956, abstract = {Uncultured microorganisms comprise the majority of the planet's biological diversity. Microorganisms represent two of the three domains of life and contain vast diversity that is the product of an estimated 3.8 billion years of evolution. In many environments, as many as 99\% of the microorganisms cannot be cultured by standard techniques, and the uncultured fraction includes diverse organisms that are only distantly related to the cultured ones. Therefore, culture-independent methods are essential to understand the genetic diversity, population structure, and ecological roles of the majority of microorganisms. Metagenomics, or the culture-independent genomic analysis of an assemblage of microorganisms, has potential to answer fundamental questions in microbial ecology. This review describes progress toward understanding the biology of uncultured Bacteria, Archaea, and viruses through metagenomic analyses.}, address = {Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.}, author = {Riesenfeld, C. S. and Schloss, P. D. and Handelsman, J. }, citeulike-article-id = {409956}, doi = {10.1146/annurev.genet.38.072902.091216}, issn = {0066-4197}, journal = {Annu Rev Genet}, keywords = {genomics, metagenomics, review}, pages = {525--552}, posted-at = {2008-05-19 22:25:59}, priority = {2}, title = {Metagenomics: genomic analysis of microbial communities.}, url = {http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.genet.38.072902.091216}, volume = {38}, year = {2004} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:409956 L3 - citeulike-article-id:409956 TI - Metagenomics: genomic analysis of microbial communities. JF - Annu Rev Genet VL - 38 SP - 525 EP - 552 AD - Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA. SN - 0066-4197 N2 - Uncultured microorganisms comprise the majority of the planet's biological diversity. Microorganisms represent two of the three domains of life and contain vast diversity that is the product of an estimated 3.8 billion years of evolution. In many environments, as many as 99% of the microorganisms cannot be cultured by standard techniques, and the uncultured fraction includes diverse organisms that are only distantly related to the cultured ones. Therefore, culture-independent methods are essential to understand the genetic diversity, population structure, and ecological roles of the majority of microorganisms. Metagenomics, or the culture-independent genomic analysis of an assemblage of microorganisms, has potential to answer fundamental questions in microbial ecology. This review describes progress toward understanding the biology of uncultured Bacteria, Archaea, and viruses through metagenomic analyses. KW - genomics KW - metagenomics KW - review AU - Riesenfeld, CS AU - Schloss, PD AU - Handelsman, J PY - 2004/// UR - http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.genet.38.072902.091216 ER -