Microbes often occur in complex communities in the environment. These communities are found in micro environments within the human body, in biofilms on the surface of objects, in soil and water samples, and in extreme environments such as deep mines, glaciers, and the various layers within the ocean. Traditional microbial genetics and microbiology study organisms individually and rely on the culture of these organisms in the lab, but it has been shown that more than 99% of the microbial diversity is unculturable.

Metagenomics is the field of biology that endeavors to study microbial communities directly obtained from the environment. Metagenomics aims to decipher uncultured organisms to understand the diversity of microbes, their functions, co‐operation and evolution in environment. Metagenomic studies provided a snapshot of the genetic composition of the community at any given time. In contrast, metatranscriptomics enables researchers to investigate the actively transcribed messenger RNA from a community. It has been applied to environments as diverse as soil and sea water. The primary goals of these approaches are to characterize the organisms present in a sample and identify the activities that are occurring. The metagenome and metatranscriptome sequencing is performed on various platforms like Illumina HiSeq 2000, NextSeq500, MiSeq, & Roche GS FLX. Xcelris Genomics provides sequencing and bioinformatic analysis services for all types of metagenome/metatranscriptome samples with international publication standards. Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics are highly relevant in a host of industries such as the following: