Abstract
A huge number of microorganisms are still unknown and uncultivated. SSU rRNA gene-based analyses of complex microbial communities are unveiling their diversity, distribution and abundance in natural environments. How to isolate uncultivated microorganisms is an everlasting preoccupation for microbiologists even in the era of culture-independent functional analyses such as stable isotope labeling, modernized in situ hybridization techniques and community genomics. Conventional isolation procedures are very laborious, and there is significant room for improvement. In this review, we stress several important clues to the systematic isolation and cultivation of uncultured microorganisms.
