MAR-FISH技术及其在环境微生物群落与功能研究中的应用

对复杂环境中微生物群落结构和功能的研究是微生物生态学的重要任务。尽管现代分子生物学技术已经成功地用于解析环境中微生物的群落结构, 但是这些方法并不能提供微生物的原位生理学信息。而一种新的方法, 微观放射自显影和荧光原位杂交集成技术(MAR-FISH)则能够同时在单细胞水平上, 检测复杂环境中微生物的系统发育信息及其生理特性。本文总结了MAR-FISH方法的原理, 实验步骤及其在环境微生物群落与功能研究中的应用。

MAR-FISH Technique and Its Application in Study of Environmental Microbial Community and Function

The major goal of microbial ecology is to study the structure and function of complex microbial communities. New molecular biological techniques have been successfully applied to analyze microbial community structure. However they do not provide information on the physiologic properties of the detected microorganisms. A new tool for structure-function analyses in microbial ecology, microautoradiography combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization (MAR-FISH) can be used to simultaneously examine the phylogenetic identity and the specific activity of microorganisms within a complex microbial community at a single-cell level. This article reviews the principle, experimental steps of MAR-FISH technique. The application of this technique in study of the environmental microbial community and function is also summarized.