Analysis of soil bacterial diversity: Methods, potentiality, and prospects

The paper presents a comparative description of the modern molecular geneti c and routine culture techniques for assessing bacterial diversity in soils and gives analysis for the different results obtained by these two groups of methods. The necessity of the collaboration of soil scientists, microbio logists, and molecular biologists in integrating different research methods for a proper assessment of soil microbial diversity is discussed. The para mount importance of soil as the source and reserve of biodiversity on the E arth is emphasized.