Soil microorganisms play many important roles. They are keys players in many biochemical cycles and act as symbiotes with different plant species. Additionally they break down and decompose organic matter. Without soil microorganisms entire ecosystems would collapse. Most soil organisms fall into the unculturable category which is why we have only been able to grow >1% of these organisms in the lab. Most studies on soil microbiomes now rely on sequencing technology to determine their compositions. In this lab we will isolate a few organisms we do know about including Streptomyces and molds using media designed to isolate the organisms.
Molds on Martin's media and Streptomyces on Jensen's media
