单细胞尺度下的微生物学研究:意义与方法

最近研究表明,即便是处于同一种群中的微生物细胞,在基因转录和翻译、蛋白活性、以及代谢物丰度等多个水平都可能存在显著差异,说明微生物细胞间存在着多个层次上的异质性;同时,传统微生物学研究方法需要将所研究的微生物对象在实验室实现再次培养,然后对纯培养的微生物种群进行研究,这样往往造成实验室的研究结果无法真实地反映微生物细胞在自然界中的原始状态,急需发展新的原位研究手段;此外,自然界中的微生物目前只有极少部分可以在实验室中进行培养,仍有大量微生物无法通过传统方法进行发掘和研究。单细胞尺度微生物学为解决这些微生物学研究中的重要挑战提供了一种新的策略和技术思路,有望帮助我们更为直观、深入地了解每个细胞内部的状态,以及其在自然界的生理生态功能。本文对单细胞尺度微生物学研究的意义以及当前单细胞尺度微生物学的研究方法,特别是新兴的微生物单细胞组学方法进行了介绍。

Microbiology at single-cell scale: significance and approaches

Recent studies have shown that even in the same population, there might be significant differences among individual cells at both cellular and molecular levels, indicating multiple levels of heterogeneity in microbial cells. Meanwhile, depending on establishing pure culture in the laboratory for the targeted microbes, traditional microbiology approaches are unable to present the original state of microorganisms in natural environments. Moreover, so far only small number of microbial species is cultivated successfully in the laboratory, leaving a great deal of microbial information untouched. Single-cell microbiology can be effective tools for addressing these issues and providing better and in-depth understanding of state of microbial cells. In this mini-review, we briefly introduce the significance of single-cell microbiology, and summarize current state-of-the-art methodologies in this new research area, especially the emerging single-cell omics tools for microbial research.