Support a Workshop on Marine Microbial Genomics

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It is clear that the technological power of high throughput sequencing has revolutionized our capabilities to examine the biochemical intricacies of organisms at the genomic level. This is best represented by the remarkable achievement of fully sequencing the human genome two years earlier than projected. Projects are now underway to fully sequence the mouse, maize, rice and numerous other biomedically important microbial genomes. In addition, during the last five years we have seen over 25 microbial genomes fully sequences with over 95 currently underway. Most of these organisms are of biomedical importance.Over the past 15 years we have begun to understand more about the diversity, distribution, and evolution of free-living bacteria. Environmental microbiology, like its sister fields, has greatly benefited from the rapid development in molecular biological technology. Numerous microbial phylogenetic studies from a range of environments have revealed that less that 1% of the bacteria have been successfully cultivated. While we now know something about what individuals make up these unique microbial communities, we have very little information about what they are doing or are capable of doing. The recent development of high throughput genomic sequencing technology and microarray expression screening provides us with the opportunity to discover the metabolic capacity of bacteria that have eluded cultivation and to better understand how bacteria interact under the constraints of their environment. The field of marine environmental genomics is in its infancy but has the potential to unleash an unprecedented wave of information critical to understanding microbial systems in the marine environment. Advancements in this area are currently suppressed due to the lack of accessibility to the current technology. The technology required is extremely costly and is certainly out of the range of the individual investigator. Here the scientists will convene a task group of investigators from the marine microbial arena to discuss the direction the community should take in microbial genomics. Inclusion of industrial components to this workshop is essential in hopes that a partnership could be forged that would provide continued access to the developing technology.