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DNA Sequencing: Strategies for Soil Microbiology
Author(s) -
Zwolinski Michele D.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2006.0125
Subject(s) - metagenomics , biology , genome , dna sequencing , computational biology , environmental dna , whole genome sequencing , phylogenetic tree , gene , microorganism , phylogenetic diversity , microbial ecology , evolutionary biology , genetics , ecology , biodiversity , bacteria
Sequencing of DNA is a powerful tool for gathering information about organisms and their environments. The 16S rRNA gene has been the preferred gene target for describing soil microbial diversity and for establishing phylogenetic relationships between unknown and uncultivated microorganisms. As sequencing technologies improve and computing power increases, however, longer and more accurate sequence data is becoming available. It is now possible to generate complete genome sequences for individual organisms and even to collect whole‐environment genome, or metagenomic, sequence information. The genomes of isolated soil microorganisms have been used to describe the physiology, ecology, and evolution and have lead to important discoveries in medicine and industry. Soil metagenomic libraries contain too much information to sequence completely at this time, but can be mined for novel, and potentially useful, microbial processes and can be used to compare genetic diversity between habitats.