Advancing Anaerobic Microbial Cultivation to Complement NGS-Based Microbiome Research
This perspective argues for renewed investment in anaerobic microbial cultivation techniques as a necessary complement to NGS-based microbiome characterization. While sequencing has mapped microbial communities extensively, isolates remain essential for functional studies, novel pathway elucidation, and clinical applications such as fecal microbiota therapeutics. The authors identify key technical and infrastructural hurdles and position improved cultivation workflows as critical for translating metagenomic findings into actionable diagnostics and therapeutics.
The original study
Enabling next-generation anaerobic cultivation through biotechnology to advance functional microbiome research.
- Authors
- Clavel T, Faber F, Groussin M, Haller D, Overmann J, Pauvert C, et al.
- Journal
- Nature biotechnology
- Type
- Journal Article, Review
- PMID
- 40301656
Original abstract
Microbiomes are complex communities of microorganisms that are essential for biochemical processes on Earth and for the health of humans, animals and plants. Many environmental and host-associated microbiomes are dominated by anaerobic microbes, some of which cannot tolerate oxygen. Anaerobic microbial communities have been extensively studied over the last 20 years using molecular techniques, especially next-generation sequencing. However, there is a renewed interest in microbial cultivation because isolates provide the basis for understanding the taxonomic and functional units of biodiversity, elucidating novel biochemical pathways and the mechanisms underlying microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions and opening new avenues for biotechnological and clinical applications. In this Perspective, we present areas of research and applications that will benefit from advancement in anaerobic microbial cultivation. We highlight key technical and infrastructural hurdles associated with the development and deployment of sophisticated cultivation workflows. Improving the performance of cultivation techniques will set new trends in functional microbiome research in the coming years.