The centrality of bacterial culturing in modern bacteriology: A minireview

Recent advances in molecular biology techniques have led to debates about the importance of culturing in routine microbiology labs. However, this mini-review aims to emphasize the extensive impact of culture-based methods in addressing microbiological questions encountered in clinical, food, and environmental microbiology. In bacteriology, the use of semi-automated procedures and high-throughput sequencing techniques has revolutionized the field, enabling real-time detection and characterization of bacterial pathogens from various sources. Bacterial cultures provide phenotypic information while also supplying DNA for high-throughput methods. The evolution in bacterial isolation and identification methods has simplified bacteriology, but there are still some challenges. To the extent that the larger percentage of bacterial communities are uncultured, culturing would remain a priority. However, the value of bacterial cultures in defining bacterial species depends on the integration of techniques, particularly in resolving critical issues like bacterial characterization.