Abstract
Advances in molecular biology are allowing researchers to unveil the chemical secrets of microorganisms they can't grow but whose genetic information they can obtain. Through wholesale extraction and expression of microbial genes for biosynthetic pathways, a gateway to the untapped chemistry of the world of unculturable microorganisms now exists. Such access promises a bounty of natural products with structural diversity never seen before that could have applications in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, and specialty chemicals industries. Discovery of bioactive compounds, especially antibiotics, derived from microorganisms typically begins by isolating bacteria or fungi and growing them in a dish. But at most only 0.1% of the microorganisms in any environment can be handled this way. The remaining 99.9% cannot be cultured by current techniques, and thus their chemistry has been unreachable. There's this vast wealth of microbial life on Earth that we don't know about, says Michael Gilman, a biochemist an...
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