An award has been made to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to appoint an ad hoc National Research Council (NRC) committee for the purpose of planning and assessment of research in metagenomics. Metagenomics describes an emerging field to analyze natural assemblages and communities of microorganisms via extraction and cloning of DNA directly from environmental samples. It holds great promise, presents many technical and conceptual challenges and will require the coordination of researchers and scientific funding agencies on a national and international scale. The study will consist of: i) a meeting of invited leaders in the field of metagenomics with the committee to provide an overview of the most important challenges and input on where coordination is most needed; ii) a workshop with invited experts in various related areas to identify the most important infrastructural and technical challenges facing metagenomics and to explore how scientific agencies might coordinate their efforts in the future; iii) other meetings of the committee to produce a consensus report .
The NAS report will be widely distributed to the academic community, governmental agencies and legislators, and industry. Society will benefit from an independent scholarly analysis of the most promising directions, infrastructure needs and areas of coordination and collaboration. Metagenomic studies are likely also to be useful in a biodefense context, through understanding of pathogen persistence in the environment, and the challenges in detecting and monitoring biological threat agents.
