Biocatalysts and small molecule products from metagenomic studies

The vast majority of bacteria present in environmental samples have never been cultured and therefore have not been exploited for the ability to produce useful biocatalysts or collections of biocatalysts generating interesting small molecules. Metagenomic libraries constructed using DNA extracted directly from natural bacterial communities offer access to the genetic information present in the genomes of these as yet uncultured bacteria. This review highlights recent efforts to recover both discrete enzymes and small molecules from metagenomic libraries.

► The majority of environmental bacteria remain uncultured. ► Metagenomics provides access to the genomes of uncultured bacteria. ► Biocatalysts have been discovered using functional and sequence based screening. ► Collections of biocatalysts that produce small molecules have also been discovered.