Metagenomics

Metagenomics is the study of microbial communities in their original living places. Metagenome sequencing refers to sequencing the entire genomes of all microbes present in a sample in order to explore taxonomic, functional, and evolutionary aspects.

• study of complete microbial communities directly in their natural environments, including
  
• skin, mouth, and gut samples to understand human related diseases,
  
• soil samples to study plant soil-microbe interactions, and
  
• marine water samples 
  
• focus on microbial communities (microbiome)
  
• microbial composition, presence and abundance (a sample can contain more than 10,000 species)
• functional gene content across all microbes
  
• metagenomics does not require isolation and culturing of individual microbes: 'culture independent'
  

What is a microbiome?