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Environmental microbiology

Detecting variation

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 5, page 327 (2007)Cite this article

Metagenomics has revolutionized our appreciation of the diversity of microorganisms present in the environment. But although compiling inventories of microorganisms that occupy different environmental niches is valuable, to understand and predict microbial community functions researchers need to know which proteins are actually synthesized.

Previously, Ram et al. used proteomics to pinpoint functions of a biofilm from a genetically uncharacterized location, known as the ABend, in the Richmond acid mine, by interpreting the proteome at this location using community genomics data from a biofilm present in a separate area in the same mine, known as the 5-way. In the latest study, a community genomics dataset for a biofilm from a third location in the same mine, the UBA location, was generated. Biofilms from both the 5-way and UBA locations were dominated by leptospirilla and two Leptospirillum genomes were independently assembled, one from each biofilm. These bacterial genomes were syntenous and homologous but clonal and separate, rather than being composites of different strains.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Lo, I. et al. Strain-resolved community proteomics reveals recombining genomes of acidophilic bacteria. Nature 07 March 2007 (doi:10.1038/nature05624)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Ram, J. R, et al. Community proteomics of a natural microbial biofilm. Science 308, 1915–1920 (2007)

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Authors
  1. Susan Jones
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Jones, S. Detecting variation. Nat Rev Microbiol 5, 327 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1663

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1663

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