Although most microorganisms cannot currently be cultured, their genomes may soon be accessible.

Until now, metagenomic analyses have been able to identify only dominant members of a microbial community or those sequenced previously. Virginia Armbrust and her group at the University of Washington in Seattle developed computational tools to tame the massive amount of data produced by next-generation sequencers. The method successfully sequenced two of 14 candidate genomes identified in samples from Puget Sound, most notably a microbe of low abundance but great interest — a representative of the mysterious, as yet uncultured organisms known as marine group II Euryarchaeota.

Researchers now have a way to peer into the secret lives of the uncultured majority.

Science 335, 587–590 (2012)