Introduction to the series of papers on animal microbiomes

Extract

There is nothing new except that which is forgotten … Marie Antoinette

Arguably, the first microbiome study, conducted by Antonie van Leewenhoek with his primitive microscopes, was reported in 1673. For much of the next 300 years, microbiologists worked hard to isolate and study organisms in pure culture. It has only been in the past 30 years that interest has arisen in the study of more complex microbial systems, requiring more powerful methodologies and new approaches.