DOI: 10.1128/mmbr.68.4.686-691.2004. Status of the Microbial Census

10.1128/mmbr.68.4.686-691.2004

Crossref journal-article

American Society for Microbiology

Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews (235)

Abstract

SUMMARY Over the past 20 years, more than 78,000 16S rRNA gene sequences have been deposited in GenBank and the Ribosomal Database Project, making the 16S rRNA gene the most widely studied gene for reconstructing bacterial phylogeny. While there is a general appreciation that these sequences are largely unique and derived from diverse species of bacteria, there has not been a quantitative attempt to describe the extent of sequencing efforts to date. We constructed rarefaction curves for each bacterial phylum and for the entire bacterial domain to assess the current state of sampling and the relative taxonomic richness of each phylum. This analysis quantifies the general sense among microbiologists that we are a long way from a complete census of the bacteria on Earth. Moreover, the analysis indicates that current sampling strategies might not be the most effective ones to describe novel diversity because there remain numerous phyla that are globally distributed yet poorly sampled. Based on the current level of sampling, it is not possible to estimate the total number of bacterial species on Earth, but the minimum species richness is 35,498. Considering previous global species richness estimates of 10 7 to 10 9 , we are certain that this estimate will increase with additional sequencing efforts. The data support previous calls for extensive surveys of multiple chemically disparate environments and of specific phylogenetic groups to advance the census most rapidly.

Bibliography

Schloss, P. D., & Handelsman, J. (2004). Status of the Microbial Census. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 68(4), 686â691.

Authors 2

Patrick D. Schloss (first)
Jo Handelsman (additional)

References 31 Referenced 442

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Dates

Type	When
Created	20 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 8, 2004, 1:16 p.m.)
Deposited	3 years, 5 months ago (March 7, 2022, 10:18 p.m.)
Indexed	1 day, 18 hours ago (Sept. 4, 2025, 9:34 a.m.)
Issued	20 years, 9 months ago (Dec. 1, 2004)
Published	20 years, 9 months ago (Dec. 1, 2004)
Published Print	20 years, 9 months ago (Dec. 1, 2004)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Schloss_2004, title={Status of the Microbial Census}, volume={68}, ISSN={1098-5557}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mmbr.68.4.686-691.2004}, DOI={10.1128/mmbr.68.4.686-691.2004}, number={4}, journal={Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews}, publisher={American Society for Microbiology}, author={Schloss, Patrick D. and Handelsman, Jo}, year={2004}, month=dec, pages={686–691} }

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