Away Teams & Field Reports

A Comprehensive Mini-Review on Culturable and Non-Culturable Microbial Diversity from Deep Sea

By Keith Cowing
July 23, 2025
Filed under , , , , , , , , , ,
A Comprehensive Mini-Review on Culturable and Non-Culturable Microbial Diversity from Deep Sea
Overview of oceanographic sampling procedures — Microbial Ecology via PubMed

Microorganisms are essential players in Earth’s ecosystems, demonstrating remarkable adaptability to harsh conditions including arctic ice caps, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and high-pressure oceanic zones.

While the study of these extremophiles has long been constrained by challenges in culturing, recent advances in metagenomic techniques have enabled a deeper understanding of microbial diversity in these extreme habitats.

This review explores both culturable and non-culturable microbial communities, focusing on the diverse strategies employed by microorganisms to thrive in harsh conditions, including high pressure, temperature, salinity, and nutrient limitations.

Traditional cultivation methods often fail to capture the full spectrum of deep-sea microbiota due to the unique growth requirements of many organisms.

In the omic era, however, microbial cultivation and the function of microbial resources are important. Non-culturable methods, like metagenomic studies and environmental DNA sequencing, have uncovered hitherto unknown microbial taxa and metabolic pathways, offering important new information on microbial ecology and biogeochemistry.

The complex microbial interactions and adaptive methods that support these ecosystems are highlighted by case studies, including as studies on hydrothermal plumes and hadal deposits.

The expanding significance of non-culturable techniques in microbial research is highlighted in this review, which also highlights how they might help us better understand microbial life in harsh conditions and how they may be used in biotechnology and environmental management.

Darkness to Discovery: A Comprehensive Mini-Review on Culturable and Non-Culturable Microbial Diversity from Deep Sea, Microbial Ecology via PubMed (open access

Astrobiology, extremophile,

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻