‘The method used by Cavicchioli’s group to predict bacterial habits lends credence to the idea that sequencing cultivated organisms is biased toward sequencing those that thrive in nutrient-rich conditions, even though those that get by in nutrient-poor conditions are more abundant in the environment,’ Kyrpides said. ‘Despite the number of microbial genome projects being done, these organisms represent just a fraction of the microbial diversity on the planet. To sequence microbial genomes that are representative of the environments in which they were collected and for a more systematic and comprehensive sampling of the Tree of Life, researchers need to increasingly develop and rely on other techniques such as single-cell sequencing to isolate DNA samples from harder-to-cultivate microbes residing in environments where nutrients are scarce.’
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