基于宏基因组学研究污水生物处理系统微生物暗物质

Metagenomics research on microbial dark matter in biological wastewater treatment system

摘要:

活性污泥和微生物生物膜是污水生物处理系统的主要菌群存在形式,利用微生物的不同代谢途径可实现水中污染物的转化和降解.微生物群落结构直接影响污染物生物转化速度和末端产物的类型,而全面了解微生物群落结构和功能可为污水生物处理的定向调控提供微生物学依据.由于绝大多数微生物未获得纯培养,因此,揭示生物处理系统中的微生物暗物质成为重要的挑战.核酸测序技术和生物信息学的快速发展推动了环境微生物学和微生物生态研究.近年来,基于高通量核酸测序的宏组学技术为研究未培养微生物和未知基因资源提供了重要工具.宏基因组学和宏转录组学技术可以研究特定环境下未培养微生物的生理功能和代谢,揭示生态条件变化下微生物的环境适应和代谢调控机制.目前,基于宏组学研究微生物暗物质,已经获得了一些突破传统认识的物质循环新机理.本文回顾了核酸测序技术的发展,综述了近年宏基因组学和宏转录组学在污水生物脱氮、强化生物除磷及微生物电化学技术微生物学研究的进展,对多组学在污水处理微生物学研究的前景和面临的主要挑战进行分析.

Abstract:

The activated sludge or microbial biofilm are the main habitats of microbial consortia in processes of biological wastewater treatment. The transformation and degradation of pollutants in wastewater can be realized through different metabolic pathways of microorganisms. The microbial community structure directly affects the rate of biotransformation of pollutants and the types of end products, while a comprehensive understanding of the microbial community structure and function can provide a microbiological basis for directional regulation of biological wastewater treatment. Since most of microorganisms are still uncultivable, it becomes a major challenge to reveal microbial dark matter in biological treatment systems. The rapid development of nucleic acid sequencing technique and bioinformatics has promoted the study of environmental microbiology and microbial ecology. In recent years, various meta-omics techniques based on high-throughput sequencing have served as an important tool for studying uncultured microorganisms and unknown genetic resources. Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics can systematically investigate the physiological and metabolic characteristics of microorganisms in specific environments, and provide a better understanding of microbial response and metabolic regulation to environmental variations. Currently, the meta-omics research on microbial dark matter has obtained some novel mechanisms in circulation of substances that break through the traditional understanding. This paper reviews the development of nucleic acid sequencing technique and discusses the recent advances in microbiological researches of biological nitrogen removal, enhanced biological phosphorus removal, and microbial electrochemical techniques based on metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. Finally, we provide an outlook on the prospective development and major challenge for meta-omics researches on biological wastewater treatment.