Culturing of ‘unculturable’ human microbiota reveals novel taxa and extensive sporulation

Our intestinal microbiota harbours a diverse bacterial community required for our health, sustenance and wellbeing. Intestinal colonization begins at birth and climaxes with the acquisition of two dominant groups of strict anaerobic bacteria belonging to the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla. Culture-independent, genomic approaches have transformed our understanding of the role of the human microbiome in health and many diseases. However, owing to the prevailing perception that our indigenous bacteria are largely recalcitrant to culture, many of their functions and phenotypes remain unknown. Here we describe a novel workflow based on targeted phenotypic culturing linked to large-scale whole-genome sequencing,…

• WT
  Wellcome Trust

  Award: 098051
• SG
  State Government of Victoria
• MR
  Medical Research Council

  Awards: 098051, PF451, MR/K000551/1
• NH
  National Health and Medical Research Council

  Award: 1091097