Volatile affairs in microbial interactions

Microorganisms are important factors in shaping our environment. One key characteristic that has been neglected for a long time is the ability of microorganisms to release chemically diverse volatile compounds. At present, it is clear that the blend of volatiles released by microorganisms can be very complex and often includes many unknown compounds for which the chemical structures remain to be elucidated. The biggest challenge now is to unravel the biological and ecological functions of these microbial volatiles. There is increasing evidence that microbial volatiles can act as infochemicals in interactions among microbes and between microbes and their eukaryotic hosts. Here, we review and discuss recent advances in understanding the natural roles of volatiles in microbe–microbe interactions. Specific emphasis will be given to the antimicrobial activities of microbial volatiles and their effects on bacterial quorum sensing, motility, gene expression and antibiotic resistance.     

2015年中国微生物遗传学研究领域若干重要进展

中国微生物遗传学研究在2015年取得了重要进展。本文回顾了2015年度中国本土科研团队在微生物遗传学领域取得的若干重要科研进展,扼要介绍了若干重点论文,展示了中国科学家在本领域的学术贡献。在基础微生物遗传学领域,明确了调控基因表达的一系列重要生物大分子的组成、结构和功能,解析了微生物免疫系统识别外源核酸片段的分子基础,阐明了多个微生物来源重要活性物质的生物合成途径及新颖的酶学反应过程,发现了微生物基因表达调控的新机理,在微生物发育、进化与群体行为生物学方面也取得一定进展。在工业微生物遗传学方面,阐明了微生物制造及其分子基础。在病原微生物遗传学方面,研究了多个致病菌的遗传调控,明晰了致病菌-宿主相互作用的遗传机制,在基因组水平解析了微生物耐药、新发病原和环境微生物的遗传机理,为致病菌防控新措施的研发提供了基础。在微生物多样性与环境微生物遗传学方面,展示了利用微生物遗传多样性的特点通过催化获得特定手性的化合物具有较好应用前景,肠道微生物组学研究方兴未艾。     

海洋动物来源微生物分离培养的新方法

海洋动物体内有着丰富的微生物,它们可以帮助动物宿主合成一些营养物质或者抵御其他动物侵害所需的化合物。在海洋动物来源微生物的生物活性化合物中,目前已有功能较好且应用于临床治疗的化合物。由于实验室分离培养条件的限制,目前仅有小部分的微生物被分离利用。因此开展新颖而有效的海洋动物来源微生物分离培养方法的研究十分必要。本文概括了近些年从海洋动物中分离微生物的新方法的结果和不足,这些方法包括原位培养技术、电回收法和培养基的改良等,重点介绍了扩散盒技术、I-tip技术和微囊包埋技术等。这些新方法的应用有助于获得更多新的微生物菌种和微生物次生代谢产物,了解微生物与动物宿主之间的关系,以及扩大海洋微生物资源的开发和利用。     

Halophilic microbial communities and their environments

Use of culture-independent studies have greatly increased our understanding of the microbiology of hypersaline lakes (the Dead Sea, Great Salt Lake) and saltern ponds in recent years. Exciting new information has become available on the microbial processes in Antarctic lakes and in deep-sea brines. These studies led to the recognition of many new lineages of microorganisms not yet available for study in culture, and their cultivation in the laboratory is now a major challenge. Studies of the metabolic potentials of different halophilic microorganisms, Archaea as well as Bacteria, shed light on the possibilities and the limitations of life at high salt concentrations, and also show their potential for applications in bioremediation.     

Microorganisms in the atmosphere over Antarctica

Antarctic microbial biodiversity is the result of a balance between evolution, extinction and colonization, and so it is not possible to gain a full understanding of the microbial biodiversity of a location, its biogeography, stability or evolutionary relationships without some understanding of the input of new biodiversity from the aerial environment. In addition, it is important to know whether the microorganisms already present are transient or resident – this is particularly true for the Antarctic environment, as selective pressures for survival in the air are similar to those that make microorganisms suitable for Antarctic colonization. The source of potential airborne colonists is widespread, as they may originate from plant surfaces, animals, water surfaces or soils and even from bacteria replicating within the clouds. On a global scale, transport of air masses from the well-mixed boundary layer to high-altitude sites has frequently been observed, particularly in the warm season, and these air masses contain microorganisms. Indeed, it has become evident that much of the microbial life within remote environments is transported by air currents. In this review, we examine the behaviour of microorganisms in the Antarctic aerial environment and the extent to which these microorganisms might influence Antarctic microbial biodiversity.     

Wastewater treatment: a model system for microbial ecology

Biological wastewater treatment is among the most important biotechnological applications and, as drivers of the key processes, microorganisms are central to its success. Therefore, the study of wastewater microorganisms has obvious applied significance; however, the importance of wastewater treatment reactors as model systems for microbial ecology is often overlooked. Modern molecular techniques, including environmental genomics, have identified unexpected microbial key players for nutrient removal and sludge bulking and/or foaming, and provided many exciting insights into the diversity, functions and niche differentiations of these predominantly uncultivated microorganisms. It is now time for wastewater microbiology to be recognized as a mature and dynamic discipline in its own right, offering much toward a deeper understanding of life in complex microbial communities. Here, we consider selected key findings to illustrate the past and future roles of molecular ecophysiology and genomics in the development of wastewater microbiology as an important subdiscipline of microbial ecology.     

Examining the fish microbiome: vertebrate-derived bacteria as an environmental niche for the discovery of unique marine natural products

Historically, marine invertebrates have been a prolific source of unique natural products, with a diverse array of biological activities. Recent studies of invertebrate-associated microbial communities are revealing microorganisms as the true producers of many of these compounds. Inspired by the human microbiome project, which has highlighted the human intestine as a unique microenvironment in terms of microbial diversity, we elected to examine the bacterial communities of fish intestines (which we have termed the fish microbiome) as a new source of microbial and biosynthetic diversity for natural products discovery. To test the hypothesis that the fish microbiome contains microorganisms with unique capacity for biosynthesizing natural products, we examined six species of fish through a combination of dissection and culture-dependent evaluation of intestinal microbial communities. Using isolation media designed to enrich for marine Actinobacteria, we have found three main clades that show taxonomic divergence from known strains, several of which are previously uncultured. Extracts from these strains exhibit a wide range of activities against both gram-positive and gram-negative human pathogens, as well as several fish pathogens. Exploration of one of these extracts has identified the novel bioactive lipid sebastenoic acid as an anti-microbial agent, with activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium, and Vibrio mimicus.     

昆虫肠道微生物分离培养策略及研究进展

昆虫肠道作为一种特殊生境,生存着多种多样的共生微生物,并且肠道内的很多微生物与自然界其他生境的微生物种类显著不同。基于对纯培养微生物的研究,科学家们发现,肠道微生物与昆虫营养、生长发育及免疫等功能密切相关。因此,分离培养是发现微生物新种类、新基因和新功能的基础。然而,自然界可培养的微生物大约只占总数的1%。为了能够对更多的微生物进行分离和培养,近二十年来,微生物学家们发展了诸多新的培养技术和策略并利用它们从昆虫肠道分离出了很多新的难培养微生物。这些新的微生物种类极大地丰富了我们对肠道共生微生物生理作用与功能的认识。以此为基础,本文综述了昆虫肠道微生物分离培养的策略及研究进展,并对未来该领域的发展进行了展望。     

海洋动物来源微生物的共培养研究进展

近年来,由于一些新疾病的发生和细菌耐药性的出现,微生物来源次级代谢产物的筛选重复率越来越高,微生物一些代谢基因在现有实验室条件下无法表达,所以需要发现新的微生物资源,同时找到激活微生物代谢产物基因的方法.海洋动物体内蕴含着大量的共附生微生物资源,可以产生很多具有生物活性的化合物,是潜在的药用资源.本文综述了近年来海洋动...     

Unlocking the 'microbial black box' using RNA-based stable isotope probing technologies

Microbial ecologists have long sought to associate the transformation of compounds in the environment with the microbial clades responsible. The development of stable isotope probing (SIP) has made this possible in many ecological and biotechnological contexts. RNA-based SIP technologies represent a significant leap forward for culture-independent 'functional phylogeny' analyses, where specific consumption of a given compound carrying a (13)C signature can be associated with the small subunit ribosomal RNA molecules of the microbes that consume it. Recent advances have led to the unequivocal identification of microorganisms responsible for contaminant degradation in engineered systems, and to applications enhancing our understanding of carbon flow in terrestrial ecosystems.     

Biodegradation of halogenated organic compounds.

In this review we discuss the degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by microorganisms, emphasizing the physiological, biochemical, and genetic basis of the biodegradation of aliphatic, aromatic, and polycyclic compounds. Many environmentally important xenobiotics are halogenated, especially chlorinated. These compounds are manufactured and used as pesticides, plasticizers, paint and printing-ink components, adhesives, flame retardants, hydraulic and heat transfer fluids, refrigerants, solvents, additives for cutting oils, and textile auxiliaries. The hazardous chemicals enter the environment through production, commercial application, and waste. As a result of bioaccumulation in the food chain and groundwater contamination, they pose public health problems because many of them are toxic, mutagenic, or carcinogenic. Although synthetic chemicals are usually recalcitrant to biodegradation, microorganisms have evolved an extensive range of enzymes, pathways, and control mechanisms that are responsible for catabolism of a wide variety of such compounds. Thus, such biological degradation can be exploited to alleviate environmental pollution problems. The pathways by which a given compound is degraded are determined by the physical, chemical, and microbiological aspects of a particular environment. By understanding the genetic basis of catabolism of xenobiotics, it is possible to improve the efficacy of naturally occurring microorganisms or construct new microorganisms capable of degrading pollutants in soil and aquatic environments more efficiently. Recently a number of genes whose enzyme products have a broader substrate specificity for the degradation of aromatic compounds have been cloned and attempts have been made to construct gene cassettes or synthetic operons comprising these degradative genes. Such gene cassettes or operons can be transferred into suitable microbial hosts for extending and custom designing the pathways for rapid degradation of recalcitrant compounds. Recent developments in designing recombinant microorganisms and hybrid metabolic pathways are discussed.     

Recent trends in microbial flavour Compounds: A review on Chemistry,synthesis mechanism and their application in food

Aroma and flavour represent the key components of food that improves the organoleptic characteristics of food and enhances the acceptability of food to consumers. Commercial manufacturing of aromatic and flavouring compounds is from the industry's microbial source, but since time immemorial, its concept has been behind human practices. The interest in microbial flavour compounds has developed in the past several decades because of its sustainable way to supply natural additives for the food processing sector. There are also numerous health benefits from microbial bioprocess products, ranging from antibiotics to fermented functional foods. This review discusses recent developments and advancements in many microbial aromatic and flavouring compounds, their biosynthesis and production by diverse types of microorganisms, their use in the food industry, and a brief overview of their health benefits for customers.     

Diagnostic microbial microarrays in soil ecology

Soil microbial communities are responsible for important physiological and metabolic processes. In the last decade soil microorganisms have been frequently analysed by cultivation-independent techniques because only a minority of the natural microbial communities are accessible by cultivation. Cultivation-independent community analyses have revolutionized our understanding of soil microbial diversity and population dynamics. Nevertheless, many methods are still laborious and time-consuming, and high-throughput methods have to be applied in order to understand population shifts at a finer level and to be better able to link microbial diversity with ecosystems functioning. Microbial diagnostic microarrays (MDMs) represent a powerful tool for the parallel, high-throughput identification of many microorganisms. Three categories of MDMs have been defined based on the nature of the probe and target molecules used: phylogenetic oligonucleotide microarrays with short oligonucleotides against a phylogenetic marker gene; functional gene arrays containing probes targeting genes encoding specific functions; and community genome arrays employing whole genomes as probes. In this review, important methodological developments relevant to the application of the different types of diagnostic microarrays in soil ecology will be addressed and new approaches, needs and future directions will be identified, which might lead to a better insight into the functional activities of soil microbial communities.     

基因芯片技术在微生物学研究中的应用

近年来,基因芯片技术的诞生使得在一个实验中就可以同时对成千上万个基因进行转录水平的表达和DNA同源性分析成为可能。该项技术已被应用于揭示许多微生物体的转录表达和基因组的差异,随着越来越多的微生物基因组全序列测定的完成,基因芯片正逐渐成为许多微生物学研究领域中的一项常规技术。归纳了该技术在微生物生理,致病性,流行病学,生态,进化,代谢工程及发酵优化等研究中的应用。     

Linking soil process and microbial ecology in freshwater wetland ecosystems

Soil microorganisms mediate many processes such as nitrification, denitrification, and methanogenesis that regulate ecosystem functioning and also feed back to influence atmospheric chemistry. These processes are of particular interest in freshwater wetland ecosystems where nutrient cycling is highly responsive to fluctuating hydrology and nutrients and soil gas releases may be sensitive to climate warming. In this review we briefly summarize research from process and taxonomic approaches to the study of wetland biogeochemistry and microbial ecology, and highlight areas where further research is needed to increase our mechanistic understanding of wetland system functioning. Research in wetland biogeochemistry has most often been focused on processes (e.g., methanogenesis), and less often on microbial communities or on populations of specific microorganisms of interest. Research on process has focused on controls over, and rates of, denitrification, methanogenesis, and methanotrophy. There has been some work on sulfate and iron transformations and wetland enzyme activities. Work to date indicates an important process level role for hydrology and soil nutrient status. The impact of plant species composition on processes is potentially critical, but is as yet poorly understood. Research on microbial communities in wetland soils has primarily focused on bacteria responsible for methanogenesis, denitrification, and sulfate reduction. There has been less work on taxonomic groups such as those responsible for nitrogen fixation, or aerobic processes such as nitrification. Work on general community composition and on wetland mycorrhizal fungi is particularly sparse. The general goal of microbial research has been to understand how microbial groups respond to the environment. There has been relatively little work done on the interactions among environmental controls over process rates, environmental constraints on microbial activities and community composition, and changes in processes at the ecosystem level. Finding ways to link process-based and biochemical or gene-based assays is becoming increasingly important as we seek a mechanistic understanding of the response of wetland ecosystems to current and future anthropogenic perturbations. We discuss the potential of new approaches, and highlight areas for further research.     

肠道微生物培养的研究进展及应用

肠道中栖居着组成复杂、功能多样的微生物群,这些微生物群在宿主免疫、营养吸收、代谢调节等方面发挥着重要作用。随着测序技术的快速发展,肠道微生物研究通过16S rRNA基因测序和宏基因组测序产生了大量的数据,其中许多未组装的序列成为微生物“暗物质”。近年来,不少研究利用多种不同微生物分离培养方法,结合高通量鉴定技术,从人、小鼠、猪肠道中分离了大量的微生物,丰富了菌株资源,为解析微生物“暗物质”以及后续肠道微生物功能和应用研究提供了基础和保障。尽管微生物的可培养性受到多种因素的影响,大部分微生物尚处于“未培养”的状态,但无论是病因研究还是生理和遗传特征的解析都离不开微生物实体资源的获取。肠道微生物的分离培养对微生物研究从关联分析向菌群功能验证、因果机制解析和功能菌株开发的深入研究具有重要意义。本文旨在探讨和综述影响微生物可培养性的因素,总结回顾肠道微生物的培养方法并阐述肠道微生物培养研究的进展,以期为肠道微生物培养研究提供新的视角。     

Trends in the search for bioactive microbial metabolites

Summary Bioactive microbial metabolites are attracting increasing attention as useful agents for medicine, veterinary medicine, agriculture, and as unique biochemical tools. A review of the current trends in the discovery-of new metabolites shows that the number of active compounds with non-antibiotic type of activity has increased, resulting in an expansion of the variety of bioactivity of microbial metabolites. Factors that contribute to the increased rate of discovery include: development of new methods for activity measurement, exploitation of novel groups of microorganisms as sources of active compounds, new directions for chemical modification, and incorporation of newer knowledge of biotechnology into screening systems. To exemplify this, typical screening methods, and chemical and biological properties of several bioactive compounds obtained by these methods are discussed.     

Microbiological coal desulphurization

Sulphur compounds present in coal impose severe limitations on its utilization since sulphur-containing gases emitted into the atmosphere upon direct combustion of coal cause serious environmental pollution problems. Removal of sulphur compounds from coal by microbial action has many advantages over physical and chemical desulphurization methods. The potential use of various microorganisms for the removal of sulphur compounds from coal is presented. Environmental conditions and major process variables affecting the process performance are identified and their possible effects are discussed. Various process schemes for microbial desulphurization (MDS) of coal are suggested. It is concluded that microbial methods have a high potential in removing sulphur compounds from coal. However, more research and development work is needed in this field to overcome present technological problems.     

Biological transformations of steroidal compounds: A review

Microbial transformation is an important tool for structural modification of organic compounds, especially natural products with complex structures like steroids. It can be used to synthesize chemical structures that are difficult to obtain by ordinary methods and as a model of mammalian metabolism due to similarity between mammalian and microbial enzyme systems. During recent years research has been focused on the structural modifications of bioactive steroids by using various microorganisms, in order to obtain biologically potent compounds with diverse structures. Steroidal compounds are responsible for important biological functions in the cells and manifest a variety of activities. This article covers the microbial transformation of sterols, steroidal hormones and some new types of steroids known as bufadienolides. Emphasis has placed on reporting metabolites that may be of general interest and on the practical aspects of work in the field of microbial transformations. The review covers the literature from 1994 to 2011.     

腐殖质呼吸作用及其生态学意义

腐殖质呼吸是厌氧环境中普遍存在的一种微生物呼吸代谢模式.自1996年发现以来,日益成为生态学与环境科学领域的研究热点.在厌氧条件下,一些微生物能以腐殖质作为唯一电子受体,氧化环境中的有机质或者甲苯等环境有毒物质,产生CO2,参与碳循环;同时,腐殖质呼吸作用产生的还原态腐殖质可以还原环境中的一些氧化态物质,如Fe(III)、Mn(IV)、Cr(VI)、U(VI) 、硝基芳香化合物和多卤代污染物.因此,腐殖质呼吸能够影响环境中C、N、Fe、Mn以及一些痕量金属元素的生物地球化学循环,并且能够促进重金属以及有机污染物的脱毒,在水体自净、污染土壤原位修复、污水处理等方面具有积极作用.