Metagenomics and biological ontology
Metagenomics and biological ontology
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DOI：
10.1016/j.shpsc.2007.09.001
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发表时间：
2007-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
O'Malley, Maureen A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Dupre, John;O'Malley, Maureen A.
宏基因组学是一门新兴的微生物系统科学，它基于对自然环境中微生物群落DNA的大规模分析。对宏基因组的研究揭示了广泛环境中的生物多样性的巨大范围，以及单个细胞和群落的新功能能力，以及它们之间复杂的进化关系。我们对这门科学的研究集中在这些宏基因组和元有机体研究的本体论意义上，以及它们对多细胞、个体和有机体的常识和哲学理解意味着什么。我们展示了宏基因组学如何要求我们以不同的方式思考人类是什么以及他们与微生物世界的关系。宏基因组学还可以改变进化过程的理解方式，来自相似和不同生物体的细胞之间的最基本关系比人们普遍认为的要合作得多，而不是对抗。除了提出有关生物本体论的基本问题外，宏基因组学还为解决气候、健康和保护问题的强大技术提供了可能性。我们的结论与反射面向过程与面向实体的分析，在目前的趋势，系统的方法。(C)2007爱思唯尔有限公司版权所有。
Metagenomics is an emerging microbial systems science that is based on the large-scale analysis of the DNA of microbial communities in their natural environments. Studies of metagenomes are revealing the vast scope of biodiversity in a wide range of environments, as well as new functional capacities of individual cells and communities, and the complex evolutionary relationships between them. Our examination of this science focuses on the ontological implications of these studies of metagenomes and metaorganisms, and what they mean for common sense and philosophical understandings of multicellularity, individuality and organism. We show how metagenomics requires us to think in different ways about what human beings are and what their relation to the microbial world is. Metagenomics could also transform the way in which evolutionary processes are understood, with the most basic relationship between cells from both similar and different organisms being far more cooperative and less antagonistic than is widely assumed. In addition to raising fundamental questions about biological ontology, metagenomics generates possibilities for powerful technologies addressed to issues of climate, health and conservation. We conclude with reflections about process-oriented versus entity-oriented analysis in light of current trends towards systems approaches. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.