Challenges and Approaches of Culturing the Unculturable Archaea
Muhammad Rafiq, Noor Hassan, Maliha Rehman, Muhammad Qasim Hayat, Gullasht Nadeem, Farwa Hassan, Naveed Iqbal, Hazrat Ali, Sahib Zada, Yingqian Kang, Wasim Sajjad, Muhsin Jamal
Abstract
Since Carl Woese's discovery of archaea as a third domain of life, numerous archaeal species have been discovered, yet archaeal diversity is poorly characterized. Culturing archaea is complicated, but several queries about archaeal cell biology, evolution, physiology, and diversity need to be solved by culturing and culture-dependent techniques. Increasing interest in demand for innovative culturing methods has led to various technological and methodological advances. The current review explains frequent hurdles hindering uncultured archaea isolation and discusses features for more archaeal cultivation. This review also discusses successful strategies and available media for archaeal culturing, which might be helpful for future culturing practices.