Carini Paul
Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
mSystems. 2019 May 7;4(3):e00092-19. doi: 10.1128/mSystems.00092-19.
Sometimes, to move ahead, you must take a look at where you have been. Culturing microbes is a foundational underpinning of microbiology. Before genome sequencing, researchers spent countless hours tediously deducing the nutritional requirements of bacterial isolates and tinkering with medium formulations to entice new microbes into culture. This art of cultivation took a back seat to the powerful molecular tools of the last 25 years, and as a result, many researchers have forgotten the utility of having a culture in hand. This perception is changing, as there is clearly a renewed interest in isolating microbes from various environments. Here, I suggest three focus areas to ensure continued growth and success of this "cultural" renaissance, including (i) setting clear cultivation goals, (ii) funding exploratory cultivation, and (iii) culturing and studying unusual organisms. "Unculturable" is a frame of mind, not a state of microbiology; it is time to dust off the bottle of yeast extract.
有时，要向前迈进，你必须审视自己的来路。培养微生物是微生物学的一项基础支撑。在基因组测序之前，研究人员花费无数时间，乏味地推导细菌分离株的营养需求，并反复调整培养基配方，以诱使新的微生物生长。在过去25年里，这种培养技术让位于强大的分子工具，结果，许多研究人员忘记了拥有一份培养物的实用价值。这种观念正在改变，因为显然人们对从各种环境中分离微生物重新产生了兴趣。在此，我提出三个重点领域，以确保这种“培养”复兴持续发展并取得成功，包括（i）设定明确的培养目标，（ii）资助探索性培养，以及（iii）培养和研究不寻常的生物体。“不可培养”是一种思维定式，而非微生物学的一种状态；是时候掸去酵母提取物瓶子上的灰尘了。
