Question

for your instructors time as a microbiologist (about two and a half decades!), we have thought that we have isolated and grown in pure cultures in labs only about 1% of the species of bacteria found on earth. which of the following are reasons that help explain why this number has remained relatively unchanged during this time? we continue to discover more environments in which bacteria live, previously thought not to hold life we have invested little time or effort into isolating and growing bacteria we have increased our understanding of how diverse life is via sequencing technologies that indicate the presence of bacteria even if we cant grow them after isolating and growing the initial 1%, we have been unable to get any more species to grow in labs

Explanation:

1. Discovering new bacterial - inhabiting environments means there are always more bacteria to be isolated, keeping the proportion low.
2. Low investment in isolation would not increase the number of isolated species.
3. Sequencing technologies showing more diverse life, including bacteria that can't be grown, means the known cultured proportion remains small.
4. Difficulty in growing more species after the initial 1% also contributes to the unchanged proportion.

Answer:

We continue to discover more environments in which bacteria live, previously thought not to hold life; We have increased our understanding of how diverse life is via sequencing technologies that indicate the presence of bacteria even if we can't grow them; After isolating and growing the initial 1%, we have been unable to get many more species to grow in labs.