分子生物学方法在环境微生物生态学中的应用研究进展

随着分子生物学方法的不断发展和改进,微生物在生态系统中的作用被更好的挖掘出来。目前快速发展的先进的分子生物学技术,已经开始应用于分析环境微生物的多样性、微生物的生物地理学及微生物对气候变化的响应等。一般环境微生物的研究目标主要有3个,即确定微生物的种类和多样性、微生物的功能或潜在作用及在特定时间点活跃的微生物等。然而,现有微生物的研究方法复杂多样,容易给研究者在方法的选择上带来困惑。将从微生物的多样性和功能研究两个方面介绍和分析相应的分子生物学方法,尤其是近年来快速发展的高通量测序、宏组学和单细胞水平研究方法(如纳米二次离子质谱与荧光原位杂交相结合的方法)等新技术及其应用情况,以期为研究者选择合适的研究方法进行环境微生物的研究提供依据。

Advances in molecular approach applications in microbial ecology studies

Microorganisms inhabit almost every imaginable environment and are important players in biogeochemical cycles. With the development and improvement of molecular biology-based approaches, the functions and community composition of microorganisms in ecosystems can be explored in more detail than ever before. Rapidly advancing molecular techniques have been applied to questions regarding microbial diversity, biogeography, and responses to environmental changes. Studies of microorganisms in the environment generally focus on three objectives-determining which microorganisms are present, what their functions are, and which are active at a given time. Comprehending the range of techniques currently available can be daunting. To facilitate the selection of the appropriate approach by researchers to study microbial communities in the environment, we introduce molecular methods according to microbial diversity and function, such as the rapidly developing high-throughput sequencing, meta-omics, and microbial single-cell approaches (e.g., nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry-fluorescence in situ hybridization, NanoSIMS-FISH), and their applications in microbial ecology studies.