章节大纲

    • Fig. Environmental bacteria cultivated in an artificial environment

      Microorganisms have been utilized in many aspects such as pharmaceutical development, food processing, and industrial material development. However, it is believed that less than 1% of all microorganisms have been cultured so far, and it is expected that a vast amount of unused genetic resources remain. As a method to obtain genetic resources of uncultured bacteria, a metagenomic method has been developed to extract DNA directly from environmental samples without depending on culture.

      By applying metagenomic methods to various marine environmental samples and marine biological resources, we are developing methods to extract high-quality metagenomic DNA, to find biosynthetic genes for the production of useful substances, and to produce compounds using the obtained biosynthetic genes.

      In this article, we introduce the method of finding genetic resources by metagenomics and show partial results.

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      Why can't many bacteria be isolated and cultured in an artificial environment?
      In some cases it is because they are dependent on other bacteria for the production of essential nutrients, but in many cases the reason is not clear.