16S rRNA基因在微生物生态学中的应用

16S rRNA(Small subunit ribosomal RNA)基因是对原核微生物进行系统进化分类研究时最常用的分子标志物(Biomarker),广泛应用于微生物生态学研究中。近些年来随着高通量测序技术及数据分析方法等的不断进步,大量基于16S rRNA基因的研究使得微生物生态学得到了快速发展,然而使用16S rRNA基因作为分子标志物时也存在诸多问题,比如水平基因转移、多拷贝的异质性、基因扩增效率的差异、数据分析方法的选择等,这些问题影响了微生物群落组成和多样性分析时的准确性。对当前使用16S rRNA基因分析微生物群落组成和多样性的进展情况做一总结,重点讨论当前存在的主要问题以及各种分析方法的发展,尤其是与高通量测序技术有关的实验和数据处理问题。     

Advances in the use of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of 16S rRNA genes to characterize microbial communities

Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis is a popular high-throughput fingerprinting technique used to monitor changes in the structure and composition of microbial communities. This approach is widely used because it offers a compromise between the information gained and labor intensity. In this review, we discuss the progress made in T-RFLP analysis of 16S rRNA genes and functional genes over the last 10 years and evaluate the performance of this technique when used in conjunction with different statistical methods. Web-based tools designed to perform virtual polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme digests greatly facilitate the choice of primers and restriction enzymes for T-RFLP analysis. Significant improvements have also been made in the statistical analysis of T-RFLP profiles such as the introduction of objective procedures to distinguish between signal and noise, the alignment of T-RFLP peaks between profiles, and the use of multivariate statistical methods to detect changes in the structure and composition of microbial communities due to spatial and temporal variation or treatment effects. The progress made in T-RFLP analysis of 16S rRNA and genes allows researchers to make methodological and statistical choices appropriate for the hypotheses of their studies.     

Characterization of the depth-related changes in the microbial communities in Lake Hovsgol sediment by 16S rRNA gene-based approaches

The undisturbed sediment of Lake Hovsgol (Mongolia) is scientifically important because it represents a record of the environmental changes that took place between the Holocene (the present age) and Pleistocene (the last ice age; 12,000 14C years before present day). Here, we investigated how the current microbial communities change as the depth increases by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of the 16S rRNA genes of the microbial communities. The microbial diversity, as estimated by the Shannon index, decreased as the depth increased. In particular, significant changes in archaeal diversity were observed in the middle depth (at 39-42 cm depth of total 60 cm depth) that marks the border between the Holocene and Pleistocene. Phylotype belonging to Beta-and Gamma-Proteobacteria were the predominant bacteria and most of these persisted throughout the depth examined. However, as the depth increased, some bacteria (some genera belonging to Beta-Proteobacteria, Nitrospira, and OP8-9) were not detectable while others (some genera belonging to Alpha-, Beta-, Gamma-Proteobacteria) newly detected by DGGE. Crenarchaea were the predominant archaea and only one phylotype belonging to Euryarchaea was found. Both the archaeal and bacterial profiles revealed by the DGGE band patterns could be grouped into four and three subsets, respectively, subsets that were largely divided by the border between the Holocene and Pleistocene. Thus, the diversity of the current microbial communities in Lake Hovsgol sediments decreases with increasing depth. These changes probably relate to the environmental conditions in the sediments, which were shaped by the paleoclimatic events taking place between the Holocene and Pleistocene.     

基于16S rRNA基因测序分析微生物群落多样性

微生物群落多样性的研究对于挖掘微生物资源,探索微生物群落功能,阐明微生物群落与生境间的关系具有重要意义。随着宏基因组概念的提出以及测序技术的快速发展,16S rRNA基因测序在微生物群落多样性的研究中已被广泛应用。文中系统地介绍了16S rRNA基因测序分析流程中的四个重要环节,包括测序平台与扩增区的选择、测序数据预处理以及多样性分析方法,就其面临的问题与挑战进行了探讨并对未来的研究方向进行了展望,以期为微生物群落多样性相关研究提供参考。     

三角帆蚌五个野生群体线粒体DNA 16S rRNA遗传特性

对中国主要淡水湖泊(鄱阳湖、洞庭湖、太湖、洪泽湖及巢湖)三角帆蚌5个野生群体的线粒体DNA 16S rRNA基因片段进行了扩增和测序,得到473bp的碱基序列,没有发现插入/缺失突变的核苷酸位点。检测到了32个多态性核苷酸位点,共7种单倍型。鄱阳湖群体的222(C→G)和325(A→G)位点,太湖群体的233(A→G)位点,巢湖群体的40(A→G)、138(A→T)和294(C→T)位点,洪泽湖群体的241(A→C)位点的变异可以作为区分群体分子遗传标记位点。洞庭湖群体未发现特异位点。在5个群体间鄱阳湖群体多态性位点、核苷酸多态性、单倍型多态性和单倍型数量4个指标都最高,表明鄱阳湖群体具有最为丰富的遗传结构,遗传变异最大,可作为三角帆蚌选育的基础群体。     

Design and Experimental Application of a Novel Non-Degenerate Universal Primer Set that Amplifies Prokaryotic 16S rRNA Genes with a Low Possibility to Amplify Eukaryotic rRNA Genes

The deep sequencing of 16S rRNA genes amplified by universal primers has revolutionized our understanding of microbial communities by allowing the characterization of the diversity of the uncultured majority. However, some universal primers also amplify eukaryotic rRNA genes, leading to a decrease in the efficiency of sequencing of prokaryotic 16S rRNA genes with possible mischaracterization of the diversity in the microbial community. In this study, we compared 16S rRNA gene sequences from genome-sequenced strains and identified candidates for non-degenerate universal primers that could be used for the amplification of prokaryotic 16S rRNA genes. The 50 identified candidates were investigated to calculate their coverage for prokaryotic and eukaryotic rRNA genes, including those from uncultured taxa and eukaryotic organelles, and a novel universal primer set, 342F-806R, covering many prokaryotic, but not eukaryotic, rRNA genes was identified. This primer set was validated by the amplification of 16S rRNA genes from a soil metagenomic sample and subsequent pyrosequencing using the Roche 454 platform. The same sample was also used for pyrosequencing of the amplicons by employing a commonly used primer set, 338F-533R, and for shotgun metagenomic sequencing using the Illumina platform. Our comparison of the taxonomic compositions inferred by the three sequencing experiments indicated that the non-degenerate 342F-806R primer set can characterize the taxonomic composition of the microbial community without substantial bias, and is highly expected to be applicable to the analysis of a wide variety of microbial communities.     

空气环境中几种细菌检测与16S rRNA测序鉴定

采集空气环境微生物,根据菌落和革兰氏染色特征,分离5株细菌。提取分离株DNA,采用设计的16SrRNA引物扩增DNA片段;纯化PCR产物,进行测序反应并再纯化,上机读序。拼接与校对DNA序列,在NCBI网站进行Blast,鉴定细菌型别。5株菌株分别是表皮葡萄球菌、头状葡萄球菌、施氏假单胞菌、溶血葡萄球菌和大肠杆菌;其中溶血葡萄球菌是致病菌,其他4株是条件致病菌。这提示,应警惕空气环境中致病菌的感染。     

Analysis of bacterial and archaeal diversity in coastal microbial mats using massive parallel 16S rRNA gene tag sequencing

Coastal microbial mats are small-scale and largely closed ecosystems in which a plethora of different functional groups of microorganisms are responsible for the biogeochemical cycling of the elements. Coastal microbial mats play an important role in coastal protection and morphodynamics through stabilization of the sediments and by initiating the development of salt-marshes. Little is known about the bacterial and especially archaeal diversity and how it contributes to the ecological functioning of coastal microbial mats. Here, we analyzed three different types of coastal microbial mats that are located along a tidal gradient and can be characterized as marine (ST2), brackish (ST3) and freshwater (ST3) systems. The mats were sampled during three different seasons and subjected to massive parallel tag sequencing of the V6 region of the 16S rRNA genes of Bacteria and Archaea. Sequence analysis revealed that the mats are among the most diverse marine ecosystems studied so far and consist of several novel taxonomic levels ranging from classes to species. The diversity between the different mat types was far more pronounced than the changes between the different seasons at one location. The archaeal community for these mats have not been studied before and revealed a strong reaction on a short period of draught during summer resulting in a massive increase in halobacterial sequences, whereas the bacterial community was barely affected. We concluded that the community composition and the microbial diversity were intrinsic of the mat type and depend on the location along the tidal gradient indicating a relation with salinity.     

基于16S rRNA基因序列分析法比较苏尼特双峰驼和阿拉善双峰驼自然发酵酸驼乳的微生物多样性

【目的】传统发酵乳制品是一类未经任何处理自然发酵而成的,其微生态环境未遭破坏,从而乳酸菌的生物学特性和基因多样性得到了很好的保留,具有开发和利用价值。自然发酵酸驼乳常用来治疗多种疾病且效果良好,与其中丰富的乳酸菌资源有着密不可分的联系。然而,目前有关自然发酵酸驼乳微生物菌群及多样性相关研究甚少。因此进一步挖掘内蒙古地区双峰驼自然发酵酸驼乳微生物群落结构和多样性是至关重要的。【方法】本研究采用IlluminaMiseq测序技术,测定了苏尼特和阿拉善双峰驼的自然发酵酸驼乳中微生物16S rRNA V3–V4区序列,并对群落结构和多样性进行了比较分析。【结果】多样性分析表明,苏尼特双峰驼酸驼乳中微生物群落丰富度和种群差异性比阿拉善双峰驼酸驼乳大,细菌多样性也高。在门水平上,苏尼特和阿拉善双峰驼酸驼乳中的菌群均以厚壁菌门(Firmicutes)和变形菌门(Proteobacteria)为主。在属水平上,苏尼特双峰驼酸驼乳主要以乳杆菌属(Lactobacillus)和乳球菌属(Lactococcus)为优势菌群,阿拉善双峰驼酸驼乳以乳杆菌属(Lactobacillus)和醋酸杆菌属(Acetobacter)为优势菌属。此外,肠杆菌属(Enterobacter)、拉乌尔菌属(Raoultella)和明串珠菌属(Leuconostoc)等的含有食源性致病菌和环境污染菌的菌属被检出。综上所述,不同地区不同品种酸驼乳的乳酸菌种类及优势菌群有较大差异,存在显著的地理差异。【结论】通过本研究,不仅对苏尼特和阿拉善双峰驼自然发酵酸驼乳乳酸菌的组成和种类有了明确的认知,为评估发酵酸驼乳微生物群落对消费者身体健康的影响提供了数据基础的同时为今后筛选优势菌群和挖掘新型益生菌奠定基础。     

Performance comparison of genetic markers for high‐throughput sequencing‐based biodiversity assessment in complex communities

Metabarcode surveys of DNA extracted from environmental samples are increasingly popular for biodiversity assessment in natural communities. Such surveys rely heavily on robust genetic markers. Therefore, analysis of PCR efficiency and subsequent biodiversity estimation for different types of genetic markers and their corresponding primers is important. Here, we test the PCR efficiency and biodiversity recovery potential of three commonly used genetic markers – nuclear small subunit ribosomal DNA (18S), mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S ribosomal RNA (mt16S) – using 454 pyrosequencing of a zooplankton community collected from Hamilton Harbour, Ontario. We found that biodiversity detection power and PCR efficiency varied widely among these markers. All tested primers for COI failed to provide high‐quality PCR products for pyrosequencing, but newly designed primers for 18S and 16S passed all tests. Furthermore, multiple analyses based on large‐scale pyrosequencing (i.e. 1/2 PicoTiter plate for each marker) showed that primers for 18S recover more (38 orders) groups than 16S (10 orders) across all taxa, and four vs. two orders and nine vs. six families for Crustacea. Our results showed that 18S, using newly designed primers, is an efficient and powerful tool for profiling biodiversity in largely unexplored communities, especially when amplification difficulties exist for mitochondrial markers such as COI. Universal primers for higher resolution markers such as COI are still needed to address the possible low resolution of 18S for species‐level identification.     

On the use of high‐throughput sequencing for the study of cyanobacterial diversity in Antarctic aquatic mats

The study of Antarctic cyanobacterial diversity has been mostly limited to morphological identification and traditional molecular techniques. High‐throughput sequencing (HTS) allows a much better understanding of microbial distribution in the environment, but its application is hampered by several methodological and analytical challenges. In this work, we explored the use of HTS as a tool for the study of cyanobacterial diversity in Antarctic aquatic mats. Our results highlight the importance of using artificial communities to validate the parameters of the bioinformatics procedure used to analyze natural communities, since pipeline‐dependent biases had a strong effect on the observed community structures. Analysis of microbial mats from five Antarctic lakes and an aquatic biofilm from the Sub‐Antarctic showed that HTS is a valuable tool for the assessment of cyanobacterial diversity. The majority of the operational taxonomic units retrieved were related to filamentous taxa such as Leptolyngbya and Phormidium, which are common genera in Antarctic lacustrine microbial mats. However, other phylotypes related to different taxa such as Geitlerinema, Pseudanabaena, Synechococcus, Chamaesiphon, Calothrix, and Coleodesmium were also found. Results revealed a much higher diversity than what had been reported using traditional methods and also highlighted remarkable differences between the cyanobacterial communities of the studied lakes. The aquatic biofilm from the Sub‐Antarctic had a distinct cyanobacterial community from the Antarctic lakes, which in turn displayed a salinity‐dependent community structure at the phylotype level.     

Bacterial community succession in a high‐altitude subarctic glacier foreland is a three‐stage process

Alpine glaciers are retreating rapidly, exposing foreland minerals, which develop into soils. Bacterial communities in glacier forelands exhibit high rates of turnover and undergo dramatic shifts in composition within the first 50 years after deglaciation, followed by relative stabilization and convergence. This period of microbial development occurs simultaneously with plant colonization in most systems; thus, it remains unclear whether the changes in the bacterial communities occur primarily as the result of edaphic, climatic or biotic factors. We examined bacterial community structure along two replicate chronosequences within the glacial foreland of Duke River Glacier, Yukon, Canada. This foreland is estimated to include >200 years of bare soils before an appreciable grassline, likely due to the high latitude and altitude of the glacier. This enabled us to examine bacterial community development prior to plant colonization over a longer period than previous studies. We observed three successional groups in the chronosequence: (i) an ‘early’ group in soils of less than approximately 50 years since deglaciation; (ii) an ‘intermediate’ group within bare soils, after the early period but before the grassline, containing communities with a relatively high degree of variability in composition; and (iii) a ‘grassline’ group in soils collected after plant colonization with higher diversity but lower age‐group variability in community composition. These findings suggest rapid replacement and addition of species better adapted to glacier foreland conditions followed by slower community shifts over the next 150 years and, finally, indications of a possible response to plant colonization.     

Windows下16S rRNA基因扩增子测序数据分析的简易流程

微生物组数据分析需要掌握Linux系统操作,这对缺乏计算机知识的生物研究人员是一个很大的障碍。为此我们设计了一套在Windows的Linux子系统(WSL)下分析16S rRNA基因扩增子高通量测序数据的简易流程。本流程整合常用的开源软件VSEARCH与QIIME等,能对16S rRNA测序数据进行质量控制、OTU聚类、多样性分析及结果可视化呈现。以唾液微生物组分析为例,详细介绍从原始数据到多样性统计分析过程的参数和命令,及结果解读。教学实践证明,此流程易于学习,并有助于掌握微生物组的基本概念与方法。利用Windows系统最新的WSL功能,本流程方便Windows用户使用大量在Linux上运行的生物信息工具,有助于促进微生物组研究的发展。流程的安装程序与测序数据可从网址(http://www. ligene. cn/win16s/)免费下载使用。