Environmental diversity of Bacteria and Archaea
Environmental diversity of Bacteria and Archaea
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DOI：
10.1080/10635150118513
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发表时间：
2001-08-01
影响因子：
6.5
通讯作者：
Pace, NR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
DeLong, EE;Pace, NR
微生物的生活方式至少经历了38亿年的进化。微生物是所有生态系统中无处不在、无处不在、必不可少的组成部分。地球生物圈的地球化学组成在很大程度上是由微生物活动塑造的。然而，尽管微生物在生命的历史进程中占主导地位，但微生物进化和生态学的一般原理和理论并不是很发达。直到最近，研究人员还不知道准确培养的微生物如何代表整体微生物多样性。分子系统发育学的发展最近使得无需培养就能表征自然产生的微生物生物群成为可能。摆脱了以培养为基础的研究的偏见，分子系统发育调查揭示了大量新的微生物群体。许多这些新的微生物在当代微生物区系中广泛存在，并且数量丰富，属于生命树深处分支的新分支。现存微生物多样性的广度和程度已经变得清晰得多。微生物生物学家面临的另一个挑战是更好地描述这些新描述的微生物分类群的生物学特性。这张更全面的图片将提供更好的视角来了解现有微生物生命的自然历史、生态和进化。
The microbial way of life spans at least 3.8 billion years of evolution. Microbial organisms are pervasive, ubiquitous, and essential components of all ecosystems. The geochemical composition of Earth's biosphere has been molded largely by microbial activities. Yet, despite the predominance of microbes during the course of life's history, general principles and theory of microbial evolution and ecology are not well developed. Until recently, investigators had no idea how accurately cultivated microorganisms represented overall microbial diversity. The development of molecular phylogenetics has recently enabled characterization of naturally occurring microbial biota without cultivation. Free from the biases of culture-based studies, molecular phylogenetic surveys have revealed a vast array of new microbial groups. Many of these new microbes are widespread and abundant among contemporary microbiota and fall within novel divisions that branch deep within the tree of life. The breadth and extent of extant microbial diversity has become much clearer. A remaining challenge for microbial biologists is to better characterize the biological properties of these newly described microbial taxa. This more comprehensive picture will provide much better perspective on the natural history, ecology, and evolution of extant microbial life.