Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001
| SS04 Environmental Microbial Genomics (Environmental and Disciplinary Connections) |
| Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 2:00:00 PM |
| Location: Brazos |
| Heidelberg, J, F, The Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, USA, jheidel@tigr.org |
| DeLong, E, F, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, USA, delong@mbari.com |
| Eisen, J, A, The Institute for Genomic Research, Rokeville, USA, eisen@tigr.org |
| Fraser, C, M, The Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, USA, cmfraser@tigr.org |
| EXPLORING GENOMIC POTENTIAL AND MICROBIAL DIVERSITY OF NONCULTURABLE MICROORGANISMS |
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| One of the most exciting future steps for genomics is the analysis of the population of uncultured or uncultivatable microorganisms. To date, studies on unculturable bacteria have been primarily limited to phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA. These methods have greatly increased our knowledge of the phylogenetic diversity of many ecosystems, but they do not allow accurate determination of the functional niche these microorganisms occupy. However, genomics confers the ability to examine both the biogeochemical capabilities of uncultured or uncultivatable bacteria and what specific genes and metabolic pathways are being expressed in response to changes in the environment . To determine the genomic potential of an environment, the DNA from the environment is cloned into bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC). These BACs can then be sequenced and annotated similarly to an entire microbial genome. The gene content of a BAC gives an idea of what important biogeochemical processes may be going on in an environment. Also, such methodologies may prove valuable commercially because of the large potential for new gene discovery. This also has the advantage of providing a mechanism for expressing genes from unculturable organisms in alternative hosts. |
| This Session Listing |
