信号分子在生物脱氮中的作用及检测方法

生物脱氮是由微生物主导的地球氮循环中的重要环节之一，主要包括硝化、反硝化和厌氧氨氧化(anaerobic ammonium oxidation,anammox)等过程。在微生物联合作用下，污水中的有机氮及氨氮经一系列作用转化为氮气，这种经济高效、环境友好的处理工艺在世界范围内得到广泛应用。群体感应(quorum sensing,QS)以信号分子为媒介通过改变菌群密度和周围环境变化来调节微生物的各种行为。大量的研究已证实调控QS信号分子在生物脱氮中具有应用潜力。本文介绍了各种信号分子类型，从基因组学、实际应用等方面综述了各类信号分子以及检测方法，同时针对酰基高丝氨酸内酯(acyl homoserine lactones,AHLs)类信号分子在生物脱氮中的作用进行详细介绍。然而不足之处在于信号分子研究只是停留在实验室阶段，仅仅研究了单一信号分子对生物脱氮的影响。未来可将信号分子应用于实际污水，研究多种信号分子共同作用以及多种微生物之间的QS现象。

Role of signal molecules in biological nitrogen removal and detection methods

Biological nitrogen removal is one of the important links in the nitrogen cycle of the earth dominated by microorganisms, mainly including nitrification, denitrification, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox). Under the combined action of microorganisms, organic nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen in sewage are transformed into nitrogen through a series of actions in sewage. The cost-effective and environment-friendly treatment has been widely applied all over the world. Quorum sensing (QS) is mediated by signal molecules to regulate the behaviors of microorganisms by changing the density of bacteria and the surrounding environment. Many studies have confirmed that the regulation of QS signal molecules has application potential in biological nitrogen removal. This paper introduced various types of signal molecules, summarized the application and detection methods of various signal molecules from the aspects of genomics and practical application, and introduced in detail the role of acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) in biological nitrogen removal. However, the deficiency was that the study of signal molecules only stayed in the laboratory stage and only studied the effect of a single signal molecule on biological nitrogen removal. In the future, signal molecules can be applied to actual sewage to study the interaction of multiple signal molecules and QS phenomenon among multiple microorganisms.