Microbial Ecology/Genomics: A Crossroads of Opportunity

美国微生物学会召开座谈会，讨论微生物学中新出现的问题。拟议的座谈会的主要目标是提供一个论坛，以处理最近明显的科学机会和研究挑战。我们将如何将微生物基因组序列信息带回环境？环境是基因组进化、运作和继续进化的环境。这是唯一可以完全理解它们的背景。我们建议我们明确评估可能的新角色 微生物分类学。微生物系统学将在为目前正在产生的海量基因组信息提供秩序方面发挥什么作用？基因组信息是如何在环境中“打包”的？基因组序列与表型之间有什么关系？关于进化和适应性辐射的基本机制，比较基因组学告诉了我们什么？这次座谈会将把致力于系统学、生态学和基因组学相关问题的不同科学家群体聚集在一起。过去如此成功的座谈会形式，是一种旨在鼓励对座谈会指导委员会制定的一系列问题进行深思熟虑讨论的会议。与会者在整个周末都在跨学科工作组中进行这些讨论，分析问题并为未来制定切实可行的建议。座谈会报告的视角将是全球性和多学科的。它将是分析性的和综合性的，但会提供切实可行的建议。简而言之，座谈会应该有助于从整合基因组、进化、生态和生理信息的角度，明确微生物为什么是现在这样的新概念，并确定知识差距，如果这些差距得到回答，将能够更好地预测和管理我们生物圈的主要部分。在座谈会之后，将制定一项传播报告的外联计划。

The American Academy of Microbiology convenes colloquia to address emerging issues in microbiology. The primary objective of the proposed colloquium is to provide a forum to address science opportunities and research challenges recently made evident. How will we take microbial genome sequence information back to the environment? The environment is the context in which genomes evolved, function, and continue to evolve. It is the only context in which they can be fully understood. We suggest that we explicitly evaluate possible new roles of microbial systematics. What role will microbial systematics play in providing order to the immense amount of genomic information now being generated? How is genomic information "packaged" in the environment? What is the relationship between genome sequence and phenotype? What is comparative genomics telling us about the basic mechanisms of evolution and adaptive radiation? This colloquium will bring together a diverse group of scientists working on issues related to systematics, ecology, and genomics. The colloquium format, so successful in the past, is a meeting designed to encourage thoughful discussion on a list of questions developed by the colloquium's steering committee. Participants engage in these discussions throughout the weekend in interdisciplinary working groups, analyzing the issues and developing practical recommendations for the future. The colloquium report will be global and multidisciplinary in its perspective. It will be analytical and comprehensive, yet offer practical recommendations. In short, the colloquium should help crystallize a new conceptual understanding of why the microbe is as it is, from integrating genomic, evolutionary, ecological and physiological information, and to identify the knowledge gaps which if answered will allow better predictions and management of a major portion of our biosphere. Following the colloquium, an outreach plan will be developed for dissemination of the report.