Next Generation Sequencing Approaches Deciphering Hidden Microbial Treasure in Soil

Soil is one of the most important and complex biological habitats on earth. As we know the microbes are important key players in every ecosystem, and biological and ecological processes. Thus, it is necessary to understand this microbial treasure to have information about their role in such processes. Initial culture dependent methods helped a lot but are insufficient to indentify all the microbial species present in the soil. It has been estimated that only ~1% of bacterial species are cultivable on culture medium and rest are still hidden in through such methods. On the other hands, soil metagenomics is a modern concept that allows us to recognize these hidden species without biasness of growing bacteria on to petri plates. In last two decades rapid improvements in modern techniques itself enhanced the human capabilities in not only identifying but also have an understanding of functional aspects of these microbes in soil. Present review describes the available culture dependent methods and emergence and improvement in modern sequencing approaches helping to explore soil microbial diversity of more detail.