Microbial Ecology/Genomics: A Crossroads of Opportunity

美国微生物学会召开座谈会，以解决微生物学中出现的问题。拟议的学术讨论会的主要目标是提供一个论坛，讨论最近出现的科学机遇和研究挑战。我们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、发挥功能和继续进化的背景。这是能够充分理解它们的唯一背景。我们建议，我们明确评估可能的新作用， 微生物系统学微生物系统学在为现在产生的大量基因组信息提供秩序方面将发挥什么作用？基因组信息是如何在环境中“打包”的？基因组序列和表型之间的关系是什么？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？这次学术讨论会将汇集一个不同的科学家小组工作有关的问题，系统学，生态学和基因组学。座谈会的形式在过去非常成功，这种会议旨在鼓励就座谈会指导委员会制定的问题清单进行深入讨论。参与者在整个周末在跨学科工作组中进行这些讨论，分析问题并为未来制定实用建议。学术讨论会报告将具有全球性和多学科性。它将是分析性的和全面的，但提供切实可行的建议。简而言之，学术讨论会应有助于从整合基因组、进化、生态和生理信息的角度，对微生物的现状形成新的概念性理解，并确定知识差距，如果这些差距得到解决，将有助于更好地预测和管理我们生物圈的主要部分。在座谈会之后，将制定一项宣传计划，以传播该报告。

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.