The new science of metagenomics, where the DNA of entire communities of microbes -- most of them previously unknown -- is studied simultaneously, promises to revolutionize understanding of the microbial world, says a new National Research Council report. It calls for a Global Metagenomics Initiative to drive advances in the field.

See a Scientific American-level article, Metagonemics: The Science of Biological Diversity.

Also: Focus on Metagenomics from Nature:

Metagenomics has emerged as a powerful tool that can be used to analyze microbial communities regardless of the ability of member organisms to be cultured in the laboratory. Metagenomics is based on the genomic analysis of microbial DNA that is extracted directly from communities in environmental samples. This technology — genomics on a huge scale — enables a survey of the different microorganisms present in a specific environment, such as water or soil, to be carried out. By integrating the information gleaned with information about biological functions within the community, the structure of microbial communities can potentially be probed. Metagenomics could also unlock the massive uncultured microbial diversity present in the environment to provide new molecules for therapeutic and biotechnological applications.

See also this conference, Metagenomics 2006, for a selection of presentations (with video) on the subject. For example, see "Cyber metagenomics":

The explosion of both genomic and environmental data requires that their union in environmental metagenomics utilize the latest in emerging capabilities of cyberinfrastructure. Recent developments such as the emergence of the National LambdaRail, service-oriented software architectures, and commodity clusters for scalable computing, storage, and visualization have made a new approach to these data-intensive science projects possible. The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) has been building teams in these areas for the last six years.

Earlier this year, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funded Calit2 to bring into being a Community Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Marine Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis (CAMERA). This project is a partnership with J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, MD, UCSD’s Center for Earth Observations and Applications (centered at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography), the San Diego Supercomputer Center, and a number of key UCSD centers. This talk will explore the cyberinfrastructure underpinnings at Calit2 that enable and extend the implementation of the vision behind CAMERA and other metagenomics cyberinfrastructure.

Metagenomics Will Transform Modern Microbiology