Open AccessMetagenomics approaches in microbial ecology and research for sustainable agriculture
Author(s) -
R. Meunier,
Saliha Bayır
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
zeitschrift für technikfolgenabschätzung in theorie und praxis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2568-020X
pISSN - 2567-8833
DOI - 10.14512/tatup.30.2.24
Subject(s) - metagenomics , agriculture , context (archaeology) , ecology , microbial ecology , environmental resource management , sustainable agriculture , biology , environmental science , paleontology , biochemistry , genetics , gene , bacteria
Technologies such as next generation sequencing (NGS) are transforming research fields at the methodological, conceptual, and organizational level. They open up new possibilities and bring with them new commitments and inherent limitations. We show from a philosophy of science perspective how NGS-based metagenomics has transformed microbial ecology and, with it, parts of agricultural soil science, which integrate ecological approaches with the aim to inform agricultural practices. We reconstruct agricultural science as design science (sensu Niiniluoto) and describe how the possibilities, commitments, and limitations of metagenomics approaches in microbial ecology shape values, situation assessments, and recommendations for interventions of soil microbiology in the context of sustainable agriculture.