First volume of microbial encyclopedia published
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 - 13:14
in Biology & Nature
The Earth is estimated to have about a nonillion (1030) microbes in, on, around, and under it, comprised of an unknown but very large number of distinct species. Despite the widespread availability of microbial genome data -close to 2,000 microbes have been and are being decoded to date -a vast unknown realm awaits scientists intent on exploring microorganisms that inhabit this "undiscovered country."