What is the difference between cultured and uncultured bacteria? What is the difference between 16S rDNA of cultured and uncultured prokaryotes ?
Culturable or cultured bacteria are those which grow on the medium which you use to culture them. There are several general purpose media such as nutrient agar, soil extract agar, tryptic soy agar, tryptone glucose beef extract agar etc. which support some what good recovery of bacteria. The bacteria which grow on these media are happy with the nutrient composition of these media.
However, most natural environments are much more complex and provide a range of nutrients which most of the media which are currently in use are unable to provide. Consequently only 0.1 to 1% of the actual bacterial load is only recovered in the medium. The hidden majority will remain uncultured and termed as unculturable bacteria.
16s rDNA of both cultured and uncultured remain the same. In case of cultured organism you isolate the DNA, then amplify 16s rDNA fragment, sequence and identify the organism. In the case of uncultured organism, you will use DNA directly extracted from environment and try to amplify the 16s rDNA genes for sequencing and identification. In this case you might find new forms which are not shown up in your culture. Hope this helps.
Uncultured bacteria is bacteria which can't yet be grown in syntethic media in laboratorium, cultured bacteria is bacteria which can be grown in synthetic media in laboratorium. This is because the difficulty to make a similar condition in the lab refers to the bacteria's nature.
I am not sure about the difference between the 16S rDNA of cultured and uncultured prokaryotes, tho. What I know is that the growth media and environmental condition that matter and effect the cultured and uncultured bacteria.
Culturable or cultured bacteria are those which grow on the medium which you use to culture them. There are several general purpose media such as nutrient agar, soil extract agar, tryptic soy agar, tryptone glucose beef extract agar etc. which support some what good recovery of bacteria. The bacteria which grow on these media are happy with the nutrient composition of these media.
However, most natural environments are much more complex and provide a range of nutrients which most of the media which are currently in use are unable to provide. Consequently only 0.1 to 1% of the actual bacterial load is only recovered in the medium. The hidden majority will remain uncultured and termed as unculturable bacteria.
16s rDNA of both cultured and uncultured remain the same. In case of cultured organism you isolate the DNA, then amplify 16s rDNA fragment, sequence and identify the organism. In the case of uncultured organism, you will use DNA directly extracted from environment and try to amplify the 16s rDNA genes for sequencing and identification. In this case you might find new forms which are not shown up in your culture. Hope this helps.
Many thanks Juli Elisa Udayani for providing valuable information.
Many thanks Mohamed Hatha Abdulla for providing useful information.
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