title: Metagenomic gene discovery: past, present and future.
abstract: It is now widely accepted that the application of standard microbiological methods for the recovery of microorganisms from the environment has had limited success in providing access to the true extent of microbial biodiversity. It follows that much of the extant microbial genetic diversity (collectively termed the metagenome) remains unexploited, an issue of considerable relevance to a wider understanding of microbial communities and of considerable importance to the biotechnology industry. The recent development of technologies designed to access this wealth of genetic information through environmental nucleic acid extraction has provided a means of avoiding the limitations of culture-dependent genetic exploitation.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Research Centre for Applied Microbiology, Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa. dcowan@uwc.ac.za
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.forename: Quinton
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stafford
authors.forename: Samson
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muyanga
authors.forename: Rory
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wittwer
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D044822:Biodiversity; D003001:Cloning, Molecular / Q000379:methods; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005827:Genetics, Microbial / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial