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Encyclopedia of Metagenomics pp 1–11Cite as

Soil Metagenomics

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Definition

Metagenomics refers to the use of DNA sequencing to determine the phylogenetic and functional gene complement of a sample, such as microbial community DNA in soil. A shotgun metagenomic approach relies on sequencing of total DNA extracted from a given sample, without prior cloning into a vector.

Soil as a Microbial Habitat

Soil has several unique properties compared to other microbial habitats that are important to consider when discussing the topic of soil metagenomics. Currently, there are few published soil metagenome studies, although there is a large interest in the scientific community on this topic based on attendance at workshops and conferences and funding of the TerraGenome NSF-sponsored Research Coordination Network (www.terragenome.org). Although metagenomics is revealing new information about phylogenetic and functional genes in some soils, it is not possible to adopt the information available to date to all soils.

There are different classes of soils that vary...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Janet Jansson

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  1. Janet Jansson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janet Jansson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Karen E. Nelson

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Jansson, J. (2013). Soil Metagenomics. In: Nelson, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Metagenomics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_701-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_701-4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6418-1

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