空间组织模式：微生物群落组装的“游戏”规则

在生物膜形成过程中,微生物种群之间通过主动或者被动的生物过程所形成的独特空间结构被称为空间组织模式。微生物空间组织模式广泛存在于自然和人工环境中,比如医疗、工业和生态系统等,是微生物形成和维持特定群落结构并发挥功能的主要方式,也是形成和维持微生物群落多样性的关键机制。然而,由于微生物群落的复杂性及相关研究方法的局限性,微生物空间组织模式方面的研究目前仍然处于起始阶段。本文梳理了微生物空间组织模式领域的研究进展,系统总结了空间组织模式初始阶段（微生物界面附着）和成熟阶段（空间自组织）的形成过程与协同机制,以及其对微生物养分利用和元素循环、微生物多样性维持和种群进化及功能的影响和调控机制,并分析了影响微生物空间组织模式的关键环境因素。     

空间分析方法在微生物生态学研究中的应用

微生物生态正在受到越来越多的关注,对其研究也渐趋深入。然而由于微生物个体微小的特点及研究手段的限制,多数研究还停留在探索阶段,研究方法也在不断完善当中。近年来,较多的研究开始探讨空间因素在微生物多样性和分布中的影响,对空间分布的探讨有助于更好地认识生态过程,是一种有力的研究手段。微生物空间分析方法已经成为微生物生态学领域中重要的研究方向之一,我国空间方法在微生物生态研究中的应用还没有得到普遍的重视。从不同研究角度出发,结合空间统计的作用,对空间统计方法在微生物生态研究中的应用的必要性及现状做了评述。介绍了空间自相关性的检验,方差图,Mantel检验,Kriging插值等方法在微生物生态研究中的应用,并论述了微生物研究中的尺度问题。这一梳理,对丰富微生物生态学研究中的新方法、新手段具有一定价值。     

微生物的运动性和趋化性在共生体系中的作用

许多共生关系依赖于宿主从环境中募集微生物相互作用后形成,而共生微生物的发现和定殖宿主的机制尚不清楚。通常认为环境共生体的获得往往需要运动和趋化作用来使微生物主动迁移和定殖。这些行为在建立和维持共生相互作用方面的关键性已经在少数模式系统中得到了很好地确立和证实。但在大多数环境共生体中,这些行为在很大程度上仍被忽视了。基于对模式案例的分析,总结了宿主应用共生微生物的趋化性和运动性在何时、何地、如何实现共生募集以及有哪些影响募集的因素。强调了这些共生行为在大范围的宿主和环境中的重要性,并对共生关系中微生物的运动性和趋化性的作用研究进行了展望,旨在为今后的相关研究和实际应用提供参考。     

微生物聚集中的群体感应与交流合作

微生物的聚集过程受群体感应机制的调控,而聚集态的形成有利于抵抗环境胁迫压力,同时也增强菌体间的交流合作并影响菌体的行为与代谢。研究微生物间交流合作的机制以及群感效应和群感淬灭机理对于调控有益微生物聚集和病原微生物解聚,实现微生物资源的高效利用和病原微生物的有效防控具有重要意义。同时也为应用于食品、医药、养殖行业的微生态制剂的研发提供新的研究思路。     

荧光原位杂交技术及其在环境微生物生态学中的应用研究

荧光原位杂交技术是一种能够同时对微生物进行定性、定量和研究微生物群落空间分布情况的有力工具。简要介绍了荧光原位杂交技术的方法,并对其在人为创制环境和自然环境中特征性微生物种群及群落生态学中的应用研究进行了讨论,指出了该种技术在应用中存在的问题与缺陷,最后对荧光原位杂交技术在堆肥微生物生态中的应用及与其他方法的组合应用进行了展望。     

基于微生物模型的合作行为进化研究进展

生物间的合作行为如何在自然选择过程中显示出对欺骗者的优势,一直以来都是进化生物学上的经典问题。实验室构建的具有合作行为的微生物种群是研究这一问题的良好素材。本文综述了几种基于微生物模型的合作行为进化理论,如亲缘选择理论、辛普森悖论、竞争抑制理论、进化博弈理论等,对其中涉及到的微生物模型进行介绍和评价,并展望其研究前景。     

土壤微生物资源管理、应用技术与学科展望

土壤中蕴藏着高度的微生物多样性,在陆地生态系统中发挥着非常重要的功能,加强对土壤微生物资源的综合管理与开发应用是提升生态系统稳定性与生产力及农产品质量的重要途径。首先,土壤微生物多样性具有全球性的重大意义,有待完善对土壤微生物的检测与监测技术研究,进而实现土壤微生物多样性与土壤功能的耦合以及对土壤质量的评定;其次,土壤微生物作为一种宝贵的生产资料和可持续资源,要加强其在土壤肥力强化与保育、土壤障碍消减与调节、土壤污染控制与修复等3个领域的应用研究。最后,未来土壤微生物学发展将会形成土壤微生物系统学、土壤微生物过程学与土壤微生物功能学3个子学科,要建立土壤微生物种质资源库与遗传信息库,推进土壤微生物生理代谢过程、生物化学过程及生态行为过程的研究,联结土壤微生物与土壤功能的关系,并从土壤中的功能微生物出发对环境变化作出积极响应和主动调控。此外,原创性方法的建立与应用是限制土壤微生物学发展的技术瓶颈,联合生物地理学与生物信息学破译重要基因的特定生态功能,并将其应用到生态模型以及生态系统未知领域的研究中去,是土壤微生物学面临的挑战。     

细菌群体感应“合作-欺骗”研究进展

细菌利用信号分子进行细胞间的交流即为群体感应.群体感应调控着生物膜形成、公共物质合成、基因水平转移等一系列社会性行为.在群体感应过程中,公共物质分泌后可以被群体中任何个体所使用即合作;亦可以被一些不分泌公共物质的个体所使用形成欺骗.群体感应合作-欺骗既可能在种群中稳定维持,也可能由于欺骗子的快速增长造成种群崩溃.欺骗子致种群崩溃为病原菌控制新策略研发带来了希望,是目前群体感应研究方面的前沿和热点.本文在介绍细菌群体感应合作及欺骗的基础上,分析了群体感应合作-欺骗生态关系形成和发展的影响因素,重点从亲缘选择、谨慎代谢、代谢限制(基因多效型)、群体感应监管等方面探讨了细菌群体感应合作-欺骗的稳定维持机制,并对细菌群体感应合作-欺骗的相关研究进行了问题总结和展望,以期为深入理解群体感应、微生物种群生态提供参考.     

昆虫肠道微生物稳态的调控机制

稳定的肠道微生物内环境是肠道微生物与肠道免疫反应相互作用的结果。在不断的进食过程中,昆虫肠道微生物种类和数量不断发生变化,肠道微生物与肠道上皮细胞之间形成了复杂的、动态的平衡机制。昆虫肠道上皮细胞可以感知有益和有害条件并利用免疫调控通路来实现微生物种群稳态的动态调节,例如双重氧化酶-活性氧(dual oxidase-reactive oxygen species, Duox-ROS)系统和免疫缺陷(immunodeficiency, Imd)信号通路可以感知肠道微生物数量变化并参与到肠道微生物稳态调节过程。除此之外,肠道微生物群也会通过群体感应(quorum sensing, QS)释放相应的效应因子来调节菌群行为,间接性起到稳态调节的作用。因此,本文综述了昆虫肠道中物理防御、免疫信号通路以及肠道微生物通过QS在昆虫肠道微生物稳态维持中的作用,加深对肠道组织与肠道微生物互作关系的认识。未来将继续对更多种类昆虫体内微生物的稳态调控机制及调控机制间的作用关系进行研究,并基于调控机制设计开发改变肠道微生物稳态的新型农药,为实现有效害虫防治提供新的靶标和思路。     

Biolog方法在环境微生物群落研究中的应用

环境微生物群落研究具有非常重要的理论和应用价值。本文介绍了一种测定微生物代谢的Ｂｉｏｌｏｇ微平板法 ,以及这种新方法在环境微生物群落研究方面的应用成果。1　环境微生物群落研究的意义与手段1 .1　环境微生物群落的研究内容环境微生物是由多个种群 (ｐｏｐｕｌａｔｉｏｎ)组成的微生物群落 (ｃｏｍｍｕｎｉｔｙ) ,不同种群之间存在着共生、互利、共存、竞争等各种复杂的关系 ,在物质循环和能量转化过程中发挥着重要作用。对环境微生物群落的研究可以从微生物的量 ,代谢活性 ,群落结构及代谢功能等几个不同层面上进行。其中 ,微生物…     

整体大于部分之和: 生态自组织斑图及其涌现属性

近30年来, 自组织理论已经发展成为解释生态系统呈现规则空间格局的有效理论。伴随着生态系统自发有序空间格局的生成, 自组织过程产生一系列的涌现属性, 这些特征对生态系统功能至关重要。在此, 我们将介绍这一正蓬勃发展的研究领域的主要理论进展。首先, 叙述了自组织这一概念的发展历程与定义, 详细阐述了自组织理论的两个经典理论框架: 图灵原理与相分离原理。然后, 根据几个典型的生态自组织研究案例, 描述了图灵原理与相分离原理在不同生态系统中的具体数学模型表达形式。接着, 分别阐述了图灵原理的涌现属性对生态系统功能以及相分离原理的涌现属性对细胞功能的作用。最后, 从多尺度自组织斑图、瞬态斑图和生物个体行为自组织3个方面对未来生态自组织理论发展方向进行了探讨。自组织研究在生态学与生物学研究中方兴未艾, 希望更多的学者在未来关注与参与该领域的发展。     

Coastal connectivity and spatial subsidy from a microbial perspective

The transfer of organic material from one coastal environment to another can increase production in recipient habitats in a process known as spatial subsidy. Microorganisms drive the generation, transformation, and uptake of organic material in shallow coastal environments, but their significance in connecting coastal habitats through spatial subsidies has received limited attention. We address this by presenting a conceptual model of coastal connectivity that focuses on the flow of microbially mediated organic material in key coastal habitats. Our model suggests that it is not the difference in generation rates of organic material between coastal habitats but the amount of organic material assimilated into microbial biomass and respiration that determines the amount of material that can be exported from one coastal environment to another. Further, the flow of organic material across coastal habitats is sensitive to environmental change as this can alter microbial remineralization and respiration rates. Our model highlights microorganisms as an integral part of coastal connectivity and emphasizes the importance of including a microbial perspective in coastal connectivity studies.     

Travelling wave dynamics and self-organization in a spatio-temporally structured population

We analyse spatial population dynamics showing that periodic or period-like chaotic dynamics produce self-organization structures, such as travelling waves. We suggest that self-organized patterns are associated with spatial synchrony patterns that often depend on geographical distance between subpopulations. The population dynamics also show statistical spatial autocorrelation patterns. We contrast our theoretical simulations with empirical data on annual damages in young sapling stands caused by voles. We conclude, on the basis of the periodicity, synchrony, and spatial autocorrelation patterns, and our simulation results, that vole dynamics represent travelling waves in population dynamics. We suggest that because such synchrony patterns are frequently observed in natural populations, spatial self-organization may be more common in population dynamics than reported in the literature.     

Causes and consequences of pattern diversification in a spatially self-organizing microbial community

Surface-attached microbial communities constitute a vast amount of life on our planet. They contribute to all major biogeochemical cycles, provide essential services to our society and environment, and have important effects on human health and disease. They typically consist of different interacting genotypes that arrange themselves non-randomly across space (referred to hereafter as spatial self-organization). While spatial self-organization is important for the functioning, ecology, and evolution of these communities, the underlying determinants of spatial self-organization remain unclear. Here, we performed a combination of experiments, statistical modeling, and mathematical simulations with a synthetic cross-feeding microbial community consisting of two isogenic strains. We found that two different patterns of spatial self-organization emerged at the same length and time scales, thus demonstrating pattern diversification. This pattern diversification was not caused by initial environmental heterogeneity or by genetic heterogeneity within populations. Instead, it was caused by nongenetic heterogeneity within populations, and we provide evidence that the source of this nongenetic heterogeneity is local differences in the initial spatial positionings of individuals. We further demonstrate that the different patterns exhibit different community-level properties; namely, they have different expansion speeds. Together, our results demonstrate that pattern diversification can emerge in the absence of initial environmental heterogeneity or genetic heterogeneity within populations and can affect community-level properties, thus providing novel insights into the causes and consequences of microbial spatial self-organization.Subject terms: Microbial ecology, Microbial ecology, Biofilms     

Growth kinetics of microorganisms with various ecological strategies in a dialysis culture at low specific growth rates

A dialysis culture was found to be most suitable for studying the metabolism of microorganisms at a low specific growth rate. The biomass of all microorganisms studied in the dialysis culture increased with time in a linear fashion; hence, the energy spent for growth decreased in proportion to a decrease in the specific growth rate. Microorganisms growing in oligotrophous environment (Arthrobacter globiformis and Lipomyces tetrasporus ) spent much less energy comparing to microorganisms from eutrophic habitats (Pseudomonas fluorescens and Debaryomyces formicarius ).     

Scale-dependent feedback and regular spatial patterns in young mussel beds

In the past decade, theoretical ecologists have emphasized that local interactions between predators and prey may invoke emergent spatial patterning at larger spatial scales. However, empirical evidence for the occurrence of emergent spatial patterning is scarce, which questions the relevance of the proposed mechanisms to ecological theory. We report on regular spatial patterns in young mussel beds on soft sediments in the Wadden Sea. We propose that scale-dependent feedback, resulting from short-range facilitation by mutual protection from waves and currents and long-range competition for algae, induces spatial self-organization, thereby providing a possible explanation for the observed patterning. The emergent self-organization affects the functioning of mussel bed ecosystems by enhancing productivity and resilience against disturbance. Moreover, self-organization allows mussels to persist at algal concentrations that would not permit survival of mussels in a homogeneous bed. Our results emphasize the importance of self-organization in affecting the emergent properties of natural systems at larger spatial scales.     

微生物对水环境污染物的趋化性研究进展

随着人类活动的干扰以及社会工业化进程的加剧,水环境污染现象日益严峻。微生物是水环境污染治理和修复的主要驱动者。越来越多的研究发现,水环境中污染物的去除速率与微生物的趋化功能密切相关。综述了近几年有关微生物对水环境中无机盐、溶解性有机物和重金属等的趋化特性研究进展,讨论并展望了基于趋化功能微生物精准调控的水环境污染强化治理技术的应用前景及主要问题。     

Nitrogenase gene diversity and microbial community structure: a cross-system comparison

Biological nitrogen fixation is an important source of fixed nitrogen for the biosphere. Microorganisms catalyse biological nitrogen fixation with the enzyme nitrogenase, which has been highly conserved through evolution. Cloning and sequencing of one of the nitrogenase structural genes, nifH, has provided a large, rapidly expanding database of sequences from diverse terrestrial and aquatic environments. Comparison of nifH phylogenies to ribosomal RNA phylogenies from cultivated microorganisms shows little conclusive evidence of lateral gene transfer. Sequence diversity far outstrips representation by cultivated representatives. The phylogeny of nitrogenase includes branches that represent phylotypic groupings based on ribosomal RNA phylogeny, but also includes paralogous clades including the alternative, non-molybdenum, non-vanadium containing nitrogenases. Only a few alternative or archaeal nitrogenase sequences have as yet been obtained from the environment. Extensive analysis of the distribution of nifH phylotypes among habitats indicates that there are characteristic patterns of nitrogen fixing microorganisms in termite guts, sediment and soil environments, estuaries and salt marshes, and oligotrophic oceans. The distribution of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, although not entirely dictated by the nitrogen availability in the environment, is non-random and can be predicted on the basis of habitat characteristics. The ability to assay for gene expression and investigate genome arrangements provides the promise of new tools for interrogating natural populations of diazotrophs. The broad analysis of nitrogenase genes provides a basis for developing molecular assays and bioinformatics approaches for the study of nitrogen fixation in the environment.