Exploitation and Utilization of Microbial Resources — A Huge Unknown World

Abstract

Microorganisms and microbial communities are the basic constituents of the biosphere. They are also the basis of the Earth’s lives. With 3.5 billion years of evolutionary history, microorganisms can exist in any environment. There are diverse types of microbial metabolism, which can make use of any form of material and energy from inorganic-small molecules to organic polymer compounds. Although with a wide range of distribution, the vast majority of microorganisms have not yet been recognized or developed. It is estimated that the earth contains a total of 10³⁰ microorganisms. The number of the types of microorganisms may amount to 2,000 to 3,000 per gram of soil samples. However, the one that can be cultivated under laboratory conditions only takes up 0.1–1%. At present, only about 5,700 types of microorganisms have been identified. China has abundant microbial resources. Therefore, a thorough investigation and research towards microbial resources’ utilization should be carried out to develop strategy to protect and utilize microbial resources. It is urgent to develop such a basic research scheme, which will help to secure national economy development in a fast and sustainable way and resolve the livelihood issues.