Uncultivated Microorganisms

• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Other Authors: Epstein, Slava S. (Editor)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009.
• Series: Microbiology Monographs, 10
• Subjects: Medicine.; Human physiology.; Molecular biology.; Microbiology.; Microbial ecology.; Molecular ecology.; Microbial genetics.; Microbial genomics.; Biomedicine.; Human Physiology.; Microbial Ecology.; Microbial Genetics and Genomics.; Molecular Ecology.; Applied Microbiology.; Molecular Medicine.

The number of existing microbial species may be in the millions, but only a few thousand have been isolated in pure culture and described. The principal reason for this tremendous disparity is that, mysteriously, over 99% of all environmental microorganisms refuse to grow in the laboratory. The phen...