ABSTRACT
The term metagenomics was coined in 1998 by Jo Handelsman to describe a new fi eld which analyzed the genetic material collected directly from environmental samples. Currently, metagenomics broadly comprises any research involving the application of modern genomic techniques to the direct study of biological communities in their natural environment avoiding isolation and culturing of individual organisms. Although metagenomics currently focuses on the genetic material of microorganisms, metagenomic technologies may be applied to other groups of organisms, including extinct and fossilized animals.
