Microbial Ecology

Metagenomic and culture-dependent analysis of microbiota

Microbial community analysis in an ecosystem to reveal its core microbiome is important. It enables the precise understanding of the distribution, diversity and dynamics of complex microbial populations in that ecosystem and in other ecologically similar habitats. In addition, microbiome analysis provides insights into the interactions of microbes among themselves and their interactions with the nature and higher organisms; such insights are important improving the environmental and human health. Employing both culture-dependent and metagenomic techniques, we seek to study bacterial communities in a variety of ecological niches including:

• Gut symbionts with their functions in host digestive metabolism, nutrition etc.

• Bacteria in the rhizospheric soil and internal tissue of local crops and their beneficial or pathogenic effects

• Microbes of extreme environmental conditions such as the alkaliphilic and halophilic microbes including their biotechnological insights

• Microbiota of local foods and their beneficial and safety aspects on food quality and consumer health

Present status: Few projects on gut and food microbiome are running.