Characterizing the Uncultivated Microbial Minority: towards Understanding the Roles of the Rare Biosphere in Microbial Communities

Abstract

Microbial communities are frequently numerically dominated by just a few species. Often, the long “tail” of the rank-abundance plots of microbial communities constitutes the so-called “rare biosphere,” microorganisms that are highly diverse but are typically found in low abundance in these communities.