1. Exploring the forest canopy metagenome for novel compounds
Jessica F. Simbahan, PhD
Institute of Biology, UP Diliman
Forest Canopy Genomics Workshop, Makiling Botanic Gardens, UPLB 19 Nov 2016

2. More than microbial cells on Earth; 9 orders of magnitude greater than the number of known stars in the universe
It is estimated that over 99% of microbes in many environments are uncultured
Cultured prokaryotic representatives are overwhelmingly from just four phyla: Actinobacteria , Bacteroidetes , Firmicutes , and Proteobacteria
access, characterize, and quantify untapped diversity of microbes
discover novel genes, metabolic pathways, and important products with biotechnological, pharmaceutical, and medical relevance

3. Cow Rumen Metagenomics
Hess and coworkers sequenced 286 gigabytes (gb) of cow rumen metagenomic DNA
Illumina Gaiix And Hiseq 2000 Platforms
Searched for carbohydrate active enzyme (CAZymes) sequences
Searching for individual functional domains
27, 755 potential candidate genes from over 2.5 million predicted open reading frames (orfs)
24% of the genes were most similar to “hypothetical proteins” or “predicted proteins” in the NCBI database
Were able to express 90 candidate proteins , of which 57% were enzymatically active against cellulosic substrates
Assembled 15 uncultured microbial genomes, which were validated by complementary methods including single-cell genome sequencing
Science Jan 28;331(6016):463-7.

5. Forest Canopy Enzymes Antimicrobial compounds
Compounds of agricultural importance
Fungicidal and insecticidal functions
Growth promotion
Nitrogen fixation and nutrient availability
Forest Canopy