Earth is estimated to have about 150 million species of microbes in, on, around and under its surface. The genomes of only about 2,000 have been and are being decoded. A vast unknown realm awaits investigation.

To cast light on this invisible and largely unknown world, the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute has initiated a "genomic encyclopedia" to begin piecing together the tree of life within this vast terrain.

In the Dec. 24 issue of the journal Nature, scientists with the multi-institutional government-led institute, including University of Virginia biologist Martin Wu, published an analysis of the first 56 microbes sequenced thus far in the fledgling genomic encyclopedia. read more>>