mSystems (Aug 2021)

Characterizing the Uncultivated Microbial Minority: towards Understanding the Roles of the Rare Biosphere in Microbial Communities

  • Jimmy H. W. Saw

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00773-21
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 4

Abstract

Read online

Microbial communities are frequently numerically dominated by just a few species. Often, the long “tail” of the rank-abundance plots of microbial communities constitutes the so-called “rare biosphere,” microorganisms that are highly diverse but are typically found in low abundance in these communities.