元基因组文库分析技术研究进展

随着新的分析技术的不断出现和成熟,促进了微生物分子生态学及相关学科的诞生和迅速发展。其中,元基因组文库分析技术即是近年来微生物分子生态学研究领域兴起的一种新的分析技术。就元基因组分析技术诞生的背景及该技术的原理进行了讨论,着重阐述了元基因组文库分析技术在寻找新基因、开发新的生物活性物质、研究群落中微生物多样性、人类元基因组测序等方面的应用。另外,归纳总结了目前国际上常用的诸如PCR为基础的筛选、荧光原位杂交（fluorescent in situ hybridization,FISH）、底物诱导的基因表达筛选（substrate induced gene expression screening,SIGEX）、基因芯片等元基因组文库筛选方法,并就不同方法的优缺点进行了分析和讨论,指出了目前元基因组文库分析技术存在的主要问题并对今后该技术的发展进行了展望。     

Substrate-induced gene-expression screening of environmental metagenome libraries for isolation of catabolic genes

Recent awareness that most microorganisms in the environment are resistant to cultivation has prompted scientists to directly clone useful genes from environmental metagenomes. Two screening methods are currently available for the metagenome approach, namely, nucleotide sequence-based screening and enzyme activity-based screening. Here we have introduced and optimized a third option for the isolation of novel catabolic operons, that is, substrate-induced gene expression screening (SIGEX). This method is based on the knowledge that catabolic-gene expression is generally induced by relevant substrates and, in many cases, controlled by regulatory elements situated proximate to catabolic genes. For SIGEX to be high throughput, we constructed an operon-trap gfp-expression vector available for shotgun cloning that allows for the selection of positive clones in liquid cultures by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. The utility of SIGEX was demonstrated by the cloning of aromatic hydrocarbon-induced genes from a groundwater metagenome library and subsequent genome-informatics analysis.     

Metagenomic analysis of Streptomyces lividans reveals host-dependent functional expression

Most functional metagenomic studies have been limited by the poor expression of many genes derived from metagenomic DNA in Escherichia coli, which has been the predominant surrogate host to date. To expand the range of expressed genes, we developed tools for construction and functional screening of metagenomic libraries in Streptomyces lividans. We expanded on previously published protocols by constructing a system that enables retrieval and characterization of the metagenomic DNA from biologically active clones. To test the functionality of these methods, we constructed and screened two metagenomic libraries in S. lividans. One was constructed with pooled DNA from 14 bacterial isolates cultured from Alaskan soil and the second with DNA directly extracted from the same soil. Functional screening of these libraries identified numerous clones with hemolytic activity, one clone that produces melanin by a previously unknown mechanism, and one that induces the overproduction of a secondary metabolite native to S. lividans. All bioactive clones were functional in S. lividans but not in E. coli, demonstrating the advantages of screening metagenomic libraries in more than one host.     

Screening for novel lipolytic enzymes from uncultured soil microorganisms

The construction and screening of metagenomic libraries constitute a valuable resource for obtaining novel biocatalysts. In this work, we present the construction of a metagenomic library in Escherichia coli using fosmid and microbial DNA directly isolated from forest topsoil and screened for lipolytic enzymes. The library consisted of 33,700 clones with an average DNA insert size of 35 kb. Eight unique lipolytic active clones were obtained from the metagenomic library on the basis of tributyrin hydrolysis. Subsequently, secondary libraries in a high-copy-number plasmid were generated to select lipolytic subclones and to characterize the individual genes responsible for the lipolytic activity. DNA sequence analysis of six genes revealed that the enzymes encoded by the metagenomic genes for lipolytic activity were novel with 34–48% similarity to known enzymes. They had conserved sequences similar to those in the hormone-sensitive lipase family. Based on their deduced amino acid similarity, the six genes encoding lipolytic enzymes were further divided into three subgroups, the identities among which ranged from 33% to 45%. The six predicted gene products were successfully expressed in E. coli and secreted into the culture broth. Most of the secreted enzymes showed a catalytic activity for hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl butyrate (C₄) but not p-nitrophenyl palmitate (C₁₆).     

Substrate-induced gene expression (SIGEX) screening of metagenome libraries

Substrate-induced gene-expression screening (SIGEX) has been developed for isolating novel catabolic genes from environmental metagenomes, particularly genes that are difficult to obtain using conventional gene-cloning methods. In SIGEX, restriction enzyme-digested metagenome fragments are ligated into an operon-trap vector (e.g., p18GFP), and a library is constructed in a liquid culture by transforming a cloning host (e.g., Escherichia coli). The library is subjected to a substrate-dependent gene-induction assay, and positive cells are selected by detecting activity of a co-expressed marker (e.g., GFP) encoded in the vector. High-throughput screening is possible if fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) is used to select GFP-expressing cells. The abovementioned SIGEX procedure requires approximately 17 d. In this protocol, a widely applicable SIGEX scheme is presented along with typical experimental results.     

An ultrahigh-throughput screening platform based on flow cytometric droplet sorting for mining novel enzymes from metagenomic libraries

Uncultivable microbial communities provide enormous reservoirs of enzymes, but their experimental identification by functional metagenomics is challenging, mainly due to the difficulty of screening enormous metagenomic libraries. Here, we propose a reliable and convenient ultrahigh-throughput screening platform based on flow cytometric droplet sorting (FCDS). The FCDS platform employs water-in-oil-in-water double emulsion droplets serving as single-cell enzymatic micro-reactors and a commercially available flow cytometer, and it can efficiently isolate novel biocatalysts from metagenomic libraries by processing single cells as many as 10⁸ per day. We demonstrated the power of this platform by screening a metagenomic library constructed from domestic running water samples. The FCDS assay screened 30 million micro-reactors in only 1 h, yielding a collection of esterase genes. Among these positive hits, Est WY was identified as a novel esterase with high catalytic efficiency and distinct evolutionary origin from other lipolytic enzymes. Our study manifests that the FCDS platform is a robust tool for functional metagenomics, with the potential to significantly improve the efficiency of exploring novel enzymes from nature.     

宏基因组学挖掘新型生物催化剂的研究进展

微生物蕴藏着大量具有工业应用潜力的生物催化剂。然而,传统培养方法只能从环境中获得不到1%的微生物。宏基因组学是通过提取某一特定环境中的所有微生物基因组DNA、构建基因组文库并对文库进行筛选,寻找和发现新的功能基因的一种方法。它绕过了微生物分离培养过程,成为研究环境样品中不可培养微生物的有力手段。因此,从宏基因组中挖掘新型生物催化剂一直倍受生物学家的关注。以下主要对宏基因组文库的样品来源、DNA提取方法、文库的构建和筛选策略的选择这4个方面的研究状况进行了综述,列举了近年来利用宏基因组技术所获得的新型生物催化剂,并对其今后的研究方向提出了展望。     

Marine metagenomics: strategies for the discovery of novel enzymes with biotechnological applications from marine environments

Metagenomic based strategies have previously been successfully employed as powerful tools to isolate and identify enzymes with novel biocatalytic activities from the unculturable component of microbial communities from various terrestrial environmental niches. Both sequence based and function based screening approaches have been employed to identify genes encoding novel biocatalytic activities and metabolic pathways from metagenomic libraries. While much of the focus to date has centred on terrestrial based microbial ecosystems, it is clear that the marine environment has enormous microbial biodiversity that remains largely unstudied. Marine microbes are both extremely abundant and diverse; the environments they occupy likewise consist of very diverse niches. As culture-dependent methods have thus far resulted in the isolation of only a tiny percentage of the marine microbiota the application of metagenomic strategies holds great potential to study and exploit the enormous microbial biodiversity which is present within these marine environments.     

Advances in recovery of novel biocatalysts from metagenomes

Metagenomics has accelerated the process of discovery of novel biocatalysts by enabling scientists to tap directly into the entire diversity of enzymes held within natural microbial populations. Their characterization has revealed a great deal of valuable information about enzymatic activity in terms of factors which influence their stability and activity under a wide range of conditions. Many of the biocatalysts have particular properties making them suitable for biotechnological applications. A diverse array of strategies has been developed to optimize each step of the process of generating and screening metagenomic libraries for novel biocatalysts. This review covers the diversity of metagenome-derived enzymes characterized to date, and the strategies currently being developed to optimize discovery of novel metagenomic biocatalysts.     

Metagenomics: advances in ecology and biotechnology

This review highlights the significant advances which have been made in prokaryotic ecology and biotechnology due to the application of metagenomic techniques. It is now possible to link processes to specific microorganisms in the environment, such as the detection of a new phototrophic process in marine bacteria, and to characterise the metabolic cooperation which takes place in mixed species biofilms. The range of prokaryote derived products available for biotechnology applications is increasing rapidly. The knowledge gained from analysis of biosynthetic pathways provides valuable information about enzymology and allows engineering of biocatalysts for specific processes. The expansion of metagenomic techniques to include alternative heterologous hosts for gene expression and the development of sophisticated assays which enable screening of thousands of clones offers the possibility to find out even more valuable information about the prokaryotic world.     

Achievements and new knowledge unraveled by metagenomic approaches

Metagenomics has paved the way for cultivation-independent assessment and exploitation of microbial communities present in complex ecosystems. In recent years, significant progress has been made in this research area. A major breakthrough was the improvement and development of high-throughput next-generation sequencing technologies. The application of these technologies resulted in the generation of large datasets derived from various environments such as soil and ocean water. The analyses of these datasets opened a window into the enormous phylogenetic and metabolic diversity of microbial communities living in a variety of ecosystems. In this way, structure, functions, and interactions of microbial communities were elucidated. Metagenomics has proven to be a powerful tool for the recovery of novel biomolecules. In most cases, functional metagenomics comprising construction and screening of complex metagenomic DNA libraries has been applied to isolate new enzymes and drugs of industrial importance. For this purpose, several novel and improved screening strategies that allow efficient screening of large collections of clones harboring metagenomes have been introduced.     

Molecular cloning and functional characterization of a novel decarboxylase from uncultured microorganisms

The metagenomic library approach has been used successfully to isolate novel biocatalyst genes from uncultured microorganisms. We report the cloning of a novel decarboxylase gene by sequence-based screening of a plasmid metagenomic library constructed with DNA from alkaline polluted soils. The gene was named undec1 A and had an open reading frame of 1077 base pairs. It encoded a 359 amino acid polypeptide with a molecular mass of 38 kDa. The predicted protein had 58% similarity to a decarboxylase from Chlorobium phaeobacteroides BS1. The putative decarboxylase gene was subcloned into pETBlue-2 vector and overexpressed in Escherichia coli Tuner (DE3) pLac. The recombinant protein was purified to homogeneity. Functional characterization with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry confirmed that the recombinant Undec1 A protein catalyzed the decarboxylation of L-cysteine to form cysteamine.     

土壤宏基因组学技术及其应用

传统的基于培养的研究方法只能反映土壤中少数(0.1%～10 %)微生物的信息,而大部分微生物目前还不能培养,因而这部分微生物资源尚难以被有效地开发利用.宏基因组学是分子生物学技术应用于环境微生物生态学研究而形成的一个新概念,主要技术包括土壤DNA的提取、文库的构建和目标基因克隆的筛选.它可为揭示微生物生态功能及其分子基础提供更全面的遗传信息,并已在微生物新功能基因筛选、活性物质开发和微生物多样性研究等方面取得了显著成果.本文对土壤宏基因组学技术的方法和应用作了详细介绍.     

A low-cost,high-throughput microfluidic nano-culture platform for functional metagenomics

Functional metagenomics is an attractive culture-independent approach for functional screening of diverse microbiomes to identify known and novel genes. Since functional screening can involve sifting through tens of thousands of metagenomic library clones, an easy high-throughput screening approach is desirable. Here, we demonstrate a proof-of-concept application of a low-cost, high-throughput droplet based microfluidic assay to the selection of antibiotic resistance genes from a soil metagenomic library. Metagenomic library members encapsulated in nanoliter volume water-in-oil droplets were printed on glass slides robotically, and cell growth in individual drops in the presence of ampicillin was imaged and quantified to identify ampicillin-resistant clones. From the hits, true positives were confirmed by sequencing and functional validation. The ease of liquid handling, ease of set-up, low cost, and robust workflow makes the droplet-based nano-culture platform a promising candidate for screening and selection assays for functional metagenomic libraries.     

Prospecting metagenomic enzyme subfamily genes for DNA family shuffling by a novel PCR-based approach

DNA family shuffling is a powerful method for enzyme engineering, which utilizes recombination of naturally occurring functional diversity to accelerate laboratory-directed evolution. However, the use of this technique has been hindered by the scarcity of family genes with the required level of sequence identity in the genome database. We describe here a strategy for collecting metagenomic homologous genes for DNA shuffling from environmental samples by truncated metagenomic gene-specific PCR (TMGS-PCR). Using identified metagenomic gene-specific primers, twenty-three 921-bp truncated lipase gene fragments, which shared 64-99% identity with each other and formed a distinct subfamily of lipases, were retrieved from 60 metagenomic samples. These lipase genes were shuffled, and selected active clones were characterized. The chimeric clones show extensive functional and genetic diversity, as demonstrated by functional characterization and sequence analysis. Our results indicate that homologous sequences of genes captured by TMGS-PCR can be used as suitable genetic material for DNA family shuffling with broad applications in enzyme engineering.     

一种来自于土壤宏基因组文库的AprN基因的鉴定

宏基因组文库技术的发展拓宽了酶学的研究范围,从而导致了一系列新型的生物催化剂被发现和鉴定。采用蛋白酶的活性筛选策略,从已构建的碱性污染土壤宏基因组文库分离得到了一个表达蛋白酶的阳性克隆。生物信息学分析表明该克隆所包含的外源DNA片断编码一个由381个氨基酸编码组成的多肽,该多肽大约为39kDa,等电点为8.91。BLAST软件分析该外源DNA片断包含一个完整的碱性蛋白酶基因（ap01）,GC含量为46.3%。相关酶学数据表明该阳性克隆所分泌的碱性蛋白酶最适作用pH值为9.5,最佳作用温度为40℃。     

Metagenomics: Concept,methodology, ecological inference and recent advances

Microorganisms constitute two third of the Earth's biological diversity. As many as 99% of the microorganisms present in certain environments cannot be cultured by standard techniques. Culture-independent methods are required to understand the genetic diversity, population structure and ecological roles of the majority of organisms. Metagenomics is the genomic analysis of microorganisms by direct extraction and cloning of DNA from their natural environment. Protocols have been developed to capture unexplored microbial diversity to overcome the existing barriers in estimation of diversity. New screening methods have been designed to select specific functional genes within metagenomic libraries to detect novel biocatalysts as well as bioactive molecules applicable to mankind. To study the complete gene or operon clusters, various vectors including cosmid, fosmid or bacterial artificial chromosomes are being developed. Bioinformatics tools and databases have added much to the study of microbial diversity. This review describes the various methodologies and tools developed to understand the biology of uncultured microbes including bacteria, archaea and viruses through metagenomic analysis.