Because of the revolution in microbiology, stemming from the development of the new tools of molecular biology, it is possible to significantly increase knowledge on diversity of microbial life on Earth and to achieve this task in a cost-effective way. Programmes to harvest microbial diversity have begun in Japan, Europe and the United States. For example, data from DNA sequencing has already revealed an unexplored richness of novel metabolic activities, and have pointed to answers for other equally important questions related to microbial diversity.
Microorganisms exhibit extraordinary genetic and phenetic diversity.
Microbial systematics has received relatively little attention in the last fifty years, considering the attention and funding provided for molecular biology and genetics, and, more recently, microbial ecology. The very basis of molecular biology and genetics lies in microbiology, and given the present growing interest in the development of products from genetic engineering, introduction of genetically-modified organisms to the environment, and other such applications, this absence of available knowledge of the systematics of microorganisms must be remedied. As a Special Target Area of Research, microbial biodiversity will contribute innovative methods and techniques to accelerate the discovery and characterisation of microbial diversity. Also, a database mechanism to select and exchange information on the biological characteristics of microorganisms will be developed, with the database constructed from available data and newly collected information. The major goals are to build a microbial inventory, including sequences of the genome of a species from each of the major kingdoms of microbial life, and develop a knowledge base of microbial genomes, employing non-cultivable approaches, as well as microbial cultivation.