微生物对低温极端环境适应性的研究进展

Progress in research on the adaptability of microorganisms to extremely cold environments

摘要:

嗜冷微生物是地球寒冷环境中最主要的生物类群，并且是驱动全球生物地球化学循环的关键环节。嗜冷微生物在适应策略上显示出应对多种极端环境因素的巨大潜力，研究其适应和进化机制有助于更好地理解微生物与环境之间相互作用过程，并有效利用极端环境微生物资源。近年来，随着分子生物学和基因组学技术的高速发展，对微生物适应寒冷环境的机制及嗜冷微生物在指示气候变化和工农业应用方面均有一系列的突破。在此，本文将从基因组的GC含量、蛋白质稳定性、转录翻译调控、细胞膜流动性、渗透压调节、抗氧化损失和基因组适应性进化等方面总结当前在微生物适应低温环境机制上所取得的进展，并展望低温环境微生物在指示气候变化和工农业应用中的前景。

Abstract:

Psychrophilic microorganisms are a major life form in cold environments of the Earth and drive critical global biogeochemical cycles. The survival strategies of these microorganisms have demonstrated great potential in overcoming the extreme environmental factors. Deciphering their adaptation and evolutionary mechanisms will improve our understanding of the interaction between microorganisms and the environment and facilitate the effective use of microbial resources from extreme environments. With the rapid development of molecular biology and genome sequencing in recent years, researchers have made great breakthroughs in research on the adaptation mechanisms of microorganisms to cold environments and application of these psychrophiles in climate change prediction, industry, and agriculture. In this review, we summarize the progress of research on microbial adaptation to cold environment in terms of genomic GC content, protein stability, transcriptional and translational regulation, cell membrane fluidity, osmotic pressure regulation, oxidation resistance, and genome adaptive evolution.