Genomics of microbial communities in African lakes

Microbes make up nearly a third of all biomass on the planet and have a remarkable genetic diversity and exist in interacting communities in the majority of habitats. Despite this, we know little about how microbiological communities interact, flourish, work collaboratively, communicate with other organisms in natural habitats, and ultimately shape the Earth’s landscape. The molecular understanding of these systems, particularly data on the primary taxa participating in the biogeochemical cycle of life-essential elements, is still scarce, particularly in African lakes. At the microbiological scale, it was difficult to investigate individual-level variations. The use of genomics technologies has changed microbial ecological studies in the last few decades, dramatically expanding our understanding of the hitherto overlooked microscopic world. Here in this chapter, we discuss the fundamental concepts in microbial ecology, as well as the most common genomics methods for studying wild microbial populations and communities. The phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal RNA, DNA–DNA reassociation kinetics, metagenomics, microarrays, and the ecological implications of sequenced microbial genomes are briefly discussed.