MICROBIOLOGY: Metagenomics

Hugenholtz, Philip
Tyson, Gene W.

Philip Hugenholtz is in the Microbial Ecology Program, DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
Gene W. Tyson is in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. emails: [email protected]; [email protected]

Nature 455(7212):p 481-483, September 25, 2008. | DOI: 10.1038/455481a

Ten years after the term metagenomics was coined, the approach continues to gather momentum. This culture-independent, molecular way of analysing environmental samples of cohabiting microbial populations has opened up fresh perspectives on microbiology.