暗黑菌(Atribacteria)的环境分布和功能特征

暗黑菌门包括OP9和JS1两大分支,成员大多为未培养微生物,在自然环境中广泛分布,并且在部分环境如厌氧海洋沉积物、地热环境以及油藏中为优势微生物。基于基因组信息的研究表明,暗黑菌为严格的厌氧微生物,同时具有降解糖类、小分子酸、短链正构烷烃的能力,在地球碳循环过程中可能扮演着重要的角色。然而,由于缺乏相应代表性的纯培养菌株,对于暗黑菌的生理生化功能推测仍有待验证。文章概述了暗黑菌的发现及发展历史,分析了其环境分布和多样性,简述了目前提出的三种代谢方式,提出了未来暗黑菌的研究发展方向。

Environmental distribution and functions of the Atribacteria

Atribacteria is a new phylum covering the lineages of OP9 and JS1. Most of the members are uncultivated microorganisms, which are distributed widely in the natural environments and dominant in some environments, such as deep marine sediments, geothermal springs, and oil reservoirs. Studies based on genomic information indicate that Atribacteria are strictly anaerobic microorganisms and have the ability to degrade sugars, organic acids, and short chain n-alkanes, suggesting that they may play a key role in subsurface carbon cycling. However, due to the lack of representative pure culture strains, the physiological and biochemical functions of Atribacteria remain to be verified. In this paper, the discovery and development history of Atribacteria, and their environmental distribution and diversity were reviewed. The three proposed metabolic modes of Atribacteria were analyzed and future research directions in this field were also discussed.