Sequencing the Microbial World One Bug at a Time

Abstract

Most of the microbial world has never been observed, let alone isolated by mankind. Despite scientific advancements soaring in the past couple decades, there still remains many mysteries surrounding microbiology. For starters, there are an unimaginable amount of microbes that are on our earth that we have never observed, studied, or classified. For most people, they are just strange bacteria, but to us, they hold the key to today’s problems. Of the 250 isolates obtained, 24 were identified to be unique. DNA extracted from these samples were sent for Illumina sequencing at the University of Georgia Genomics Facility. Assembled genomes are currently being analyzed and prepared for publication in hopes of helping the scientific community and microbiologists alike to broaden their understanding of different microorganisms and to facilitate further discoveries within the medical and scientific field surrounding microbes.