Yes - we can only culture a very small minority of wild bacteria. For example, the recent antibiotic discovery that made the news came from learning how to cul

Yes - we can only culture a very small minority of wild bacteria. For example, the recent antibiotic discovery that made the news came from learning how to culture soil bacteria. No, we didn't learn what it needs. We just grew it in it's natural environment: dirt. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8852487 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8852487 Revolutionary. (seriously).