Microbial genomes – the untapped resource

Although the 1990s have ushered in the genome, they have also exposed our limitations for deriving structural and functional information. In parallel, molecular phylogeny has demonstrated that the majority of microbial genomes are currently inaccessible. Key objectives for the next century are the development of techniques for accessing ‘unculturable’ genomes, exploiting their biotechnologically valuable genes and products, and linking genome-sequence data to molecular structure and function.