Microbes constitute about a third of the Earth's biomass and are composed by an enormous genetic diversity. In a majority of environments the microbial communities play crucial roles for the ecosystem functioning, where a drastic biodiversity alteration or loss could lead to negative effects on the environment and sustainability. A central goal in microbiome studies is to elucidate the relation between microbial diversity to functions. A better understanding of the relation diversity-function would increase the ability to manipulate that diversity to improve plant and animal health and also setting conservation priorities. The recent advances in genomic methodologies in microbial ecology have provide means to assess highly complex communities in detail, making possible the link between diversity and the functions performed by the microbes. In this work we first explore some advances in bioinformatics tools to connect the microbial community biodiversity to their potential metabolism and after present some examples of how this information can be useful for a better understanding of the microbial role in the environment.

中文翻译：

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使用宏基因组学连接微生物群落的生物多样性和功能。

微生物约占地球生物量的三分之一，由巨大的遗传多样性组成。在大多数环境中，微生物群落对生态系统功能起着至关重要的作用，其中生物多样性的剧烈改变或丧失可能会对环境和可持续性产生负面影响。微生物组研究的中心目标是阐明微生物多样性与功能之间的关系。更好地理解多样性功能的关系将增加操纵多样性以改善动植物健康并确定保护优先事项的能力。微生物生态学中基因组方法的最新进展为详细评估高度复杂的群落提供了手段，使多样性与微生物所执行的功能之间的联系成为可能。