宏基因组学挖掘新型生物催化剂的研究进展

微生物蕴藏着大量具有工业应用潜力的生物催化剂。然而,传统培养方法只能从环境中获得不到1%的微生物。宏基因组学是通过提取某一特定环境中的所有微生物基因组DNA、构建基因组文库并对文库进行筛选,寻找和发现新的功能基因的一种方法。它绕过了微生物分离培养过程,成为研究环境样品中不可培养微生物的有力手段。因此,从宏基因组中挖掘新型生物催化剂一直倍受生物学家的关注。以下主要对宏基因组文库的样品来源、DNA提取方法、文库的构建和筛选策略的选择这4个方面的研究状况进行了综述,列举了近年来利用宏基因组技术所获得的新型生物催化剂,并对其今后的研究方向提出了展望。     

宏基因组学的研究方法进展及应用概述

宏基因组学是以某一特定环境样品中的微生物群体基因组为研究对象,通过提取DNA、构建文库、文库筛选等基本流程来研究微生物多样性、进化关系以及寻找新基因等为研究目的的新的微生物学研究方法,其总体流程包括环境样品总DNA提取、宏基因组文库构建、宏基因组文库筛选三个阶段。宏基因组学做为一个崭新的技术在微生物生态学、生物酶制剂开发以及医学等方面都取得了可喜的成绩。本文将就宏基因组学的概念、技术流程和应用三个方面作简单介绍。     

土壤宏基因组学技术及其应用

传统的基于培养的研究方法只能反映土壤中少数(0.1%～10 %)微生物的信息,而大部分微生物目前还不能培养,因而这部分微生物资源尚难以被有效地开发利用.宏基因组学是分子生物学技术应用于环境微生物生态学研究而形成的一个新概念,主要技术包括土壤DNA的提取、文库的构建和目标基因克隆的筛选.它可为揭示微生物生态功能及其分子基础提供更全面的遗传信息,并已在微生物新功能基因筛选、活性物质开发和微生物多样性研究等方面取得了显著成果.本文对土壤宏基因组学技术的方法和应用作了详细介绍.     

宏基因组学:土壤微生物研究的新策略

土壤中多数微生物不可培养,这限制了微生物资源的开发利用。宏基因组学方法在开发和利用不可培养微生物资源方面有巨大潜力,可以将其运用到土壤微生物学研究中。对土壤宏基因组DNA的提取、宏基因组文库的构建和筛选等方面的研究现状和进展进行了简要综述。     

宏基因组学在发现新基因方面的应用

现代分子微生物生态学研究表明,自然环境中约99%的微生物不能用传统的分离培养方法获得其纯培养,使得环境微生物中的多样性基因资源难以得到充分的开发和应用.宏基因组学是近年来发展起来的,通过直接提取特定环境中全部微生物的总基因组DNA并克隆到合适的可培养微生物宿主中,来筛选目的基因的方法.它已在微生物新功能基因筛选、活性物质开发和微生物多样性研究等方面取得了显著成果.该文旨在介绍宏基因组学在新功能基因发现方面的应用概况并结合我们的研究情况,对这一崭新领域中的最近研究进展进行简要综述.     

宏基因组学在新型生物催化剂开发中的研究进展

宏基因组学是基因工程发展的新方向,它为寻找和发现新的功能基因及生物催化剂提供了新的研究策略。着重论述了宏基因组学的研究方法,包括DNA的提取、文库的构建以及筛选策略的选择。同时介绍了近年来宏基因组学应用于新型生物催化剂开发中所取得的一些成果。     

临床宏基因组学应用现状及存在问题分析

众所周知,宏基因组学是一种通过提取样品中微生物的总DNA,构建宏基因组文库,研究环境中全部微生物的遗传组成及其菌落功能的方法。而宏基因组新一代测序(metagenome next-generation sequencing, mNGS)是在宏基因组学基础上进一步发展起来的新一代测序技术,无需对患者标本进行培养,直接分析标本中的微生物DNA或RNA。本文介绍了宏基因组学在临床上的应用,包括传染病的诊断、疾病和健康状态下的微生物组分析、人类宿主反应分析和肿瘤相关病毒及其基因组鉴定,并简要探讨了临床宏基因组学研究中所遇到的挑战及解决方法。     

宏基因组与宏基因组学

宏基因组学诞生于上世纪90年代,是指不经过微生物培养阶段,采用直接提取环境中总DNA的方法,对微生物基因总和进行研究的一门新学科.宏基因组技术的出现,使得人们对占微生物总体99%以上不可培养微生物的研究成为现实,微生物基因的可探测空间显著增大.总的来说,目前宏基因组技术的应用主要分为两个方面:一方面是筛选功能基因,开发具有所需功能的蛋白;另一方面是通过对宏基因组文库进行分析,探讨在各种环境下微生物间相互作用和微生物与周围环境间相互影响的规律,以便我们能更加客观、全面地认识微生物世界.在宏基因组技术的应用范围被不断扩展的同时,围绕着宏基因组文库的构建和筛选、测序和分析等方面的研究已成为宏基因组学发展的主要推动力,宏基因组技术的进步将不断提升其应用价值.     

堆肥宏基因组柯斯质粒文库的构建和DNA提取技术的改进

堆肥环境中高浓度腐殖酸的存在阻碍了对这个环境中的未培养微生物的宏基因组研究。我们提出了一个确实可行的提取堆肥环境DNA的方法, 这个方法通过使用Sephadex G200＋酸洗PVPP层析柱与电洗脱两步纯化的方法成功地纯化堆肥环境来源的DNA, 用这个DNA成功构建了一个包含约10万个克隆的柯斯质粒文库。从这个文库中筛选到一个新的β-葡萄糖苷酶基因。针对文库低的阳性筛选率问题, 利用分子技术研究了不同的分离速度对提取到的总DNA中真核生物DNA量的影响, 以减少文库中真核生物DNA的污染。     

环境微生物不依赖于培养的基因组学研究及应用

微生物在生物圈中分布广泛,并且在地球物质循环中占有重要地位,但是约99﹪的微生物目前还不能通过传统的培养方法得到纯培养物（即未培养微生物）,给这些未培养微生物的研究带来很大的困难。随着分子生物学的快速发展及其在微生物研究中的广泛运用,促进了以环境中未培养微生物为研究对象的新兴学科--环境基因组学的产生和发展。在不进行相关微生物培养分离的情况下,通过从环境样品中直接提取获得所有微小生物的全部遗传物质,并构建环境基因组文库;进一步利用功能基因组学研究策略,从文库中寻找编码产生新的有生物活性产物的基因;通过对系统发育相关锚定位点基因序列分析,从而确定特定生态环境体系中未培养微生物的种类结构组成及进化地位,并最终重建该体系中微生物群体的基本物质循环模式。此外,环境基因组学也可以在对未培养微生物生理生化特性深入了解的基础上,建立发展合适的培养体系,最终获得某些特定微生物的纯培养物。本文对环境基因组的构建及相关分析研究策略的进展进行了综述;同时介绍了其在微生物分类及生态学研究的应用。     

富集培养及高质量DNA提取有利于从土壤宏基因组中获取新卤醇脱卤酶基因

目的:宏基因组技术作为一种不依赖于微生物纯培养的新方法,在挖掘新基因方面具有极大的潜力。本研究旨在建立一种从土壤中高效获取卤醇脱卤酶新基因的策略。方法:通过对现有DNA提取方法进行改进,同时结合富集培养途径以提高土壤宏基因组DNA质量和特异性;在此基础上,应用T-Coffee及CDEHOP程序设计特异引物并对目的基因进行扩增,同时采用正交法设计优化扩增条件,以提高获得卤醇脱卤酶基因的效率。结果:应用改进法提取的DNA质量较改进前有大幅度提高,其D260nm/D280nm及D260nm/D230nm值均大于1.8,且可以不经纯化直接用于PCR和相关酶切实验;PCR扩增目标基因的特异性增强,其中用经富集培养后所得DNA为模板扩增目标基因的特异性最强,TA克隆测序阳性结果比例最高。结论:富集培养和高质量DNA的获得有助于基于宏基因组途径获取新基因。     

Capturing the uncultivated majority

The metagenomic analysis of environmental microbial communities continues to be a rapidly developing area of study. DNA isolation, the first step in capturing the uncultivated majority, has seen many advances in recent years. Protocols have been developed to distinguish DNA from live versus dead cells and to separate extracellular from intracellular DNA. Looking to increase our understanding of the role that members of a microbial community play in ecological processes, several techniques have been developed that are enabling greater in-depth analysis of environmental metagenomes. These include the development of environmental gene tags and the serial analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence tags. In addition, new screening methods have been designed to select for specific functional genes within metagenomic libraries. Finally, new cultivation methods continue to be developed to improve our ability to capture a greater diversity of microorganisms within the environment.     

Strategies for accessing soil metagenome for desired applications

Most of the microorganisms in nature are inaccessible as they are uncultivable in the laboratory. Metagenomic approaches promise the accessibility of the genetic resources and their potential applications. Genetic resources from terrestrial environments can be accessed by exploring the soil metagenome. Soil metagenomic analyses are usually initiated by the isolation of environmental DNAs. Several methods have been described for the direct isolation of environmental DNAs from soil and sediments. Application of metagenomics largely depends on the construction of genomic DNA libraries and subsequent high-throughput sequencing or library screening. Thus, obtaining large quantities of pure cloneable DNA from the environment is a prerequisite. This review discusses the recent developments related to efficient extraction and purification of soil metagenome highlighting the considerations for various metagenomic applications.     

Marine metagenomics: strategies for the discovery of novel enzymes with biotechnological applications from marine environments

Metagenomic based strategies have previously been successfully employed as powerful tools to isolate and identify enzymes with novel biocatalytic activities from the unculturable component of microbial communities from various terrestrial environmental niches. Both sequence based and function based screening approaches have been employed to identify genes encoding novel biocatalytic activities and metabolic pathways from metagenomic libraries. While much of the focus to date has centred on terrestrial based microbial ecosystems, it is clear that the marine environment has enormous microbial biodiversity that remains largely unstudied. Marine microbes are both extremely abundant and diverse; the environments they occupy likewise consist of very diverse niches. As culture-dependent methods have thus far resulted in the isolation of only a tiny percentage of the marine microbiota the application of metagenomic strategies holds great potential to study and exploit the enormous microbial biodiversity which is present within these marine environments.     

A biomolecular isolation framework for eco-systems biology

Mixed microbial communities are complex, dynamic and heterogeneous. It is therefore essential that biomolecular fractions obtained for high-throughput omic analyses are representative of single samples to facilitate meaningful data integration, analysis and modeling. We have developed a new methodological framework for the reproducible isolation of high-quality genomic DNA, large and small RNA, proteins, and polar and non-polar metabolites from single unique mixed microbial community samples. The methodology is based around reproducible cryogenic sample preservation and cell lysis. Metabolites are extracted first using organic solvents, followed by the sequential isolation of nucleic acids and proteins using chromatographic spin columns. The methodology was validated by comparison to traditional dedicated and simultaneous biomolecular isolation methods. To prove the broad applicability of the methodology, we applied it to microbial consortia of biotechnological, environmental and biomedical research interest. The developed methodological framework lays the foundation for standardized molecular eco-systematic studies on a range of different microbial communities in the future.     

From bacterial genomics to metagenomics: concept,tools and recent advances

In the last 20 years, the applications of genomics tools have completely transformed the field of microbial research. This has primarily happened due to revolution in sequencing technologies that have become available today. This review therefore, first describes the discoveries, upgradation and automation of sequencing techniques in a chronological order, followed by a brief discussion on microbial genomics. Some of the recently sequenced bacterial genomes are described to explain how complete genome data is now being used to derive interesting findings. Apart from the genomics of individual microbes, the study of unculturable microbiota from different environments is increasingly gaining importance. The second section is thus dedicated to the concept of metagenomics describing environmental DNA isolation, metagenomic library construction and screening methods to look for novel and potentially important genes, enzymes and biomolecules. It also deals with the pioneering studies in the area of metagenomics that are offering new insights into the previously unappreciated microbial world. The authors have contributed equally to the work     

元基因组学及其在转化医学中的应用

微生物群落遍布于人体的每个角落,与人共生并对人体健康产生重要和深刻的影响。与人类共生的全部微生物的基因组总和称为“元基因组”或“人类第二基因组”。研究人体微生物群落及相关元基因组数据,对转化医学领域的基础研究和临床应用具有重要的价值。通过对生物医学相关的高通量元基因组数据进行分析,不仅能为基础医学研究向医学临床应用转化提供新思路和新方法,而且具有广阔的应用前景。基于新一代测序技术产生的数据,元基因组分析技术和方法能够弥补以往人体微生物先培养后鉴定方法的缺陷,同时能有效鉴定和分析微生物群落的组成及功能,从而进一步探究和揭示微生物群落与机体生理状态之间的关系,为解决许多医学领域的难题提供了全新的切入角度和思维方法。文章系统介绍了元基因组研究的现状,包括元基因组的方法概念和研究进展,并以元基因组在医学研究中的应用为着眼点,综述了元基因组在转化医学方面的研究进展,进一步阐述了元基因组研究在转化医学应用领域中具有的重要地位。