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Nature 428, 25-26 (4 March 2004) | doi:10.1038/428025a

Open Innovation Challenges

Microbiology:  Reconstructing the wild types

Edward F. Delong1

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A challenging way to characterize the world's naturally occurring microbes is to piece together whole genomes from complex communities. An unusually acidic microbial habitat provides the setting for a ranging shot on that target.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered much of the microbial world by looking at it through a simple microscope. Later, while deciphering the roles of microbes in natural elemental cycles of sulphur, Sergei Winogradsky again showed the importance of direct observation of microbes in their natural habitats.

  1. Edward F. DeLong is at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, California 95039-0628, USA.
    e-mail: Email: delong@mbari.org