Growing the recalcitrant

Abstract

Unculturable microorganisms are those that have been identifiedby microscopy, by their activity or by detection of phylogenetic markers such as their 16S rRNA genes, and have not been able to be cultured, despite reasonable efforts having been made. Recent successes in the cultivation of so-called unculturable microorganisms have revealed that the key ingredient in therecipe for growing them in the laboratory is patience. Beyond that, there is probably no single secret to success and microbial diversity must be matched by experimental ingenuity.