Microbial Ecology and Genomics: Understanding the Patterns and Processes of Single Cells, Communities and the Ecosphere; February 23-25, 2001 in Southern California

American Society For Microbiology, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

0090711 Colgan It is now known that microbial species in culture poorly represent their natural diversity-which dwarfs conventions established for the visible world. This was revealed over the last decade using newer molecular tools to explore environmental diversity and has sparked an explosive growth in microbial ecology and technologies that may profit from the bounty of natural biochemical diversity. Several colloquia and meetings have helped formulate policy recommendations to enable sustained research programs in these areas. The primary objective of the proposed workshop is to provide a forum to address science opportunities and research challenges recently made evident. How will we take genome sequence information back to the environment? The environment is the context in which genomes evolved, function, and continue to evolve. It is the only context in which they can be fully understood. We suggest that we explicitly evaluate possible new roles of microbial systematics. What role will microbial systematics play in providing order to the immense amount of genomic information now being generated? How is genomic information packaged in the environment? What is the relationship between genome sequence and phenotype? What is comparative genomics telling us about the basic mechanisms of evolution and adaptive radiation? These questions must be addressed before we can move forward in this field.