Microbial genomics

Technical advances in sequencing technologies and new computational developments, alongside continuous reductions in sequencing costs, have democratized microbial genomics, fuelling a rise in the number of available microbial genomes. From microbial evolution to microbial diversity, host–pathogen interactions to disease-causing genetic variation, genomics has provided transformative insights into microbiology. Moreover, genomic technologies show great potential for clinical diagnostics or the real-time detection and surveillance of epidemics. Commissioned by the editors of Nature Reviews Genetics, the articles in this Focus on microbial genomics highlight the impact of high-throughput sequencing on the field of microbiology.