Presentation Information
[2EMT-01]Cultivation Renaissance in the post-metagenomic era: unlocking microbial resources for biotechnology
○Hideyuki Tamaki1 (1. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) (Japan))
Keywords:
microbial resources,uncultured microorganisms,cultivation and isolation,metagenomics,biotechnology
For more than a century since the pioneering work of Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur, the isolation and cultivation of individual microorganisms from the environment have been the central paradigm of microbiology. This cultivation-based approach has underpinned major advances across diverse disciplines, including biology, environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, agricultural chemistry, and biotechnology, and has contributed broadly to medicine, hygiene management, the food industry, agriculture, and aquaculture.
In recent years, however, the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has dramatically reshaped our understanding of microbial diversity. It is now evident that the vast majority of microorganisms in natural environments have never been cultivated. Advances in genome-resolved metagenomics have further enabled the reconstruction of high-quality genomes even for microbial populations representing as little as ~0.1% of a community. As a result, large-scale environmental genomics efforts are rapidly expanding, leading to the development of global microbial genome atlases. From a phylogenetic perspective, many environmental microorganisms are no longer “unknown,” but rather “uncultivated” organisms with available genomic information.
Despite these advances, a critical gap remains. From a functional standpoint, most uncultivated microorganisms are still largely unknown. This discrepancy arises from the vast imbalance between the rapidly accumulating number of genome sequences and the comparatively limited number of microorganisms that have been isolated, cultivated, and experimentally characterized to the level required for formal taxonomic description. Consequently, there is a growing global recognition of the renewed importance of cultivation-based approaches.
Over the past two decades, our research has focused on the central theme of cultivating the uncultivated to uncover novel biological functions. We have developed innovative strategies to enable the cultivation of previously uncultured and difficult-to-culture microorganisms and have applied these approaches to diverse ecosystems, including deep subsurface environments, plant–microbe symbiotic systems, and the gut microbiome. Through these efforts, we have successfully isolated novel microorganisms and elucidated previously unprecedented biological functions.
In this presentation, we will introduce our recent advances in cultivating and characterizing previously inaccessible microbial resources. We will also discuss the significance and future potential of exploring and harnessing these untapped microbial functions in the emerging era of the bio-manufacturing revolution, where microbial resources are expected to play a central role in enabling sustainable innovation across multiple industrial sectors. Time goes around—the cultivation renaissance has arrived.
In recent years, however, the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has dramatically reshaped our understanding of microbial diversity. It is now evident that the vast majority of microorganisms in natural environments have never been cultivated. Advances in genome-resolved metagenomics have further enabled the reconstruction of high-quality genomes even for microbial populations representing as little as ~0.1% of a community. As a result, large-scale environmental genomics efforts are rapidly expanding, leading to the development of global microbial genome atlases. From a phylogenetic perspective, many environmental microorganisms are no longer “unknown,” but rather “uncultivated” organisms with available genomic information.
Despite these advances, a critical gap remains. From a functional standpoint, most uncultivated microorganisms are still largely unknown. This discrepancy arises from the vast imbalance between the rapidly accumulating number of genome sequences and the comparatively limited number of microorganisms that have been isolated, cultivated, and experimentally characterized to the level required for formal taxonomic description. Consequently, there is a growing global recognition of the renewed importance of cultivation-based approaches.
Over the past two decades, our research has focused on the central theme of cultivating the uncultivated to uncover novel biological functions. We have developed innovative strategies to enable the cultivation of previously uncultured and difficult-to-culture microorganisms and have applied these approaches to diverse ecosystems, including deep subsurface environments, plant–microbe symbiotic systems, and the gut microbiome. Through these efforts, we have successfully isolated novel microorganisms and elucidated previously unprecedented biological functions.
In this presentation, we will introduce our recent advances in cultivating and characterizing previously inaccessible microbial resources. We will also discuss the significance and future potential of exploring and harnessing these untapped microbial functions in the emerging era of the bio-manufacturing revolution, where microbial resources are expected to play a central role in enabling sustainable innovation across multiple industrial sectors. Time goes around—the cultivation renaissance has arrived.
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