IDENTIFYING CULTURABLE AND UNCULTURED PROKARYOTES

Authors
Citation
E. Stackebrandt, IDENTIFYING CULTURABLE AND UNCULTURED PROKARYOTES, Symbiosis, 22(1-2), 1997, pp. 47-58
Citations number
52
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Microbiology
Journal title
ISSN journal
0334-5114
Volume
22
Issue
1-2
Year of publication
1997
Pages
47 - 58
Database
ISI
SICI code
0334-5114(1997)22:1-2<47:ICAUP>2.0.ZU;2-K
Abstract
Recent advances in molecular microbial ecology have provided microbiol ogists with a wealth of information on the extent of phylogenetic rela tedness among cultured organisms and the composition of microbial comm unities. However, in order to understand microbial ecology, more is ne eded than just the determination of novel types of organisms. Another important factor in the reconstruction of the foodweb as a driving for ce in ecosystem function is the knowledge of biochemical properties an d/or the presence of genes coding for enzymes involved in biochemical pathways of isolated and non-cultured strains. While the structure of an environmental sample can in principle now be elucidated by determin ation of the intraspecific relationships between microorganisms, metho ds that would explore species richness and species abundance, as well as functional dependence between organisms and between the organisms a nd the organic and inorganic components of the sample are less well ex plored.