Protocols On Environmental omics

Most of the microorganisms on earth are shrouded from our curious eyes because of their reluctance to grow in pure culture. Current estimates indicate that more than 99% of the microorganisms present in many natural environments are not readily cultivable and therefore not accessible for biotechnology or basic research. Cultivation based methods elucidating only small fraction of the total bacterial population in particular, rare bacterial taxa were undetectable and resulting in the underestimation of the population diversity actually present in the natural environment. In fact, most of the species in many environments have never been described and this situation will not change until new culturing technologies are developed. To overcome difficulties and limitations associated with cultivation techniques, OMICS based approaches which bypass the cultivation techniques. These new methods will result in the discovery of thousands of novel genes, enzymes and vitamins.

Autorentext

I earned my Ph. D degree in Environmental Biotechnology from Bharathidasan University, Tiruchrappalli. I was interested in characterization of uncultivable microbes and characterization of functional genes like tannase and antibiotic resistance from the gut lepidopteran insects. At present I am interested in environmental genomics and proteomics.