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.

Metagenome and Metagenomics

Metagenomics became a developing discipline for the study of microbial genes since 1990s. With metagenomic approaches, total DNA was directly extracted from the environment without the need of the microorganism cultures, therefore, to allow researchers to investigate at the scope of more than 99 % of the microbial genes in overall microorganisms. In general, metagenome technology can be applied in two aspects, to screen for functional genes and exploit proteins with new functions; or to find out the interactions among various microorganisms or between microorganisms and their surrounding environment. As the application of metagenomic technology expands, the researches on library construction, screening, sequencing and analysis advances to drive metagenomics towards even more practical values.