Capturing and taming Earth’s wild microbes

Abstract

Among the organisms of the biosphere, the diversity of the Bacteria and Archaea is the most poorly understood. Our lack of knowledge about microbial diversity is important because the majority of these organisms still remain undescribed and unclassified and the roles they perform in their environments, their geochemical activities and their biotechnological potential still need to be ascertained. For these reasons, this rich, unknown diversity comprises an enormous untapped resource for science and society. Only recently have microbiologists begun to more fully realise how great our ignorance of microbial diversity truly is. This paper discusses how technology, persistence and serendipity play important roles in unveiling the vast diversity of uncultivated microorganisms through their capture (isolation) and taming (cultivation, naming and description). Perhaps citizens can be recruited to become ‘microbe hunters’ to assist in efforts to characterise new microbial species. Their potential reward could be a trophy for the ‘smallest game’: the capture and naming of a novel bacterial species.