Metagenomics: An Approach Will Expand Microbial Capabilities

The next challenge was to elucidate the functions of these new phenotypes and determine whether they represented new species, genera, or phyla of prokaryotic life. This challenge spawned various techniques, including metagenomics, the genomic analysis of assemblages of organisms. In a few years, the study of uncultured microorganisms has expanded beyond asking “Who, What, Where, How, When?” to include the difficult question “What are they doing?” The outcomes of the recognition of uncultured microorganisms are worthy of examination. One of these outcomes, metagenomics, is further shaping microbiology. Metagenomics has already opened new avenues of research by enabling unprecedented analyses of genome heterogeneity and evolution in environmental contexts and providing access to far more microbial diversity than has been viewed in the petri dish. This review will explore the origins of metagenomics and examine its recent application to microbial ecology and biotechnology.