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Molecular methods are beginning to reveal inhabitants of natural microbial communities which have never before been cultured, Our approach involves selective cloning of naturally occurring 16S rRNA sequences as eDNA, and comparison of these sequences to a database which includes 16S rRNA sequences of isolated community members.We provide here an overview of the method and its potential for community analysis.A 16S rRNA sequence retrieved from the well-studied hot spring cyanobacterial mat in Octopus Spring (Yellowstone National Park) is shown as an example of one contributed by an uncultured member of the community. INTRODUCTIONSelective enrichment cultures have given us a relatively large collection of purc-cuhused microorganisms from natural extreme environments.Studies of these isolates have in turn revealed much about the physiology of adaptation to environmental extremes and about the novel phylog-
Ward et al. (Fri,) studied this question.