In 1988, scientists at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory find 10 times more genetic diversity than has ever been recorded in a single species of soil bacterium.

DNA can be isolated from bacterial fractions containing 50 to 80% of the soil bacteria and may provide genetic information about the nonculturable bacteria in soil. The heterogeneity of this DNA is a measure of the total number of genetically different bacteria in soil.