Systems Microbiology - Applied Microbiology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Microbiology

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Systems

Microbiology

Systems microbiology aims to integrate basic biological information with genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, glycomics, proteomics and other data to create an integrated model of how a microbial cell or community functions. Microorganisms are ideal for systems biology studies because they are easy to manipulate and have crucial roles in the biosphere and human health. This series examines some of the latest developments in this fast ‐ moving field. From: http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/series/systemsmicrobiology/index.html

Or: The union of molecular biology and ecology

According

to

a

new

report,

"Systems

Microbiology:

Beyond

Microbial

Genomics,"

released

by

the

American

Academy

of

Microbiology,

"Potential

applications

of

systems

microbiology

research

range

from

improvements

in

the

management

of

bacterial

infections

to

the

development

of

commercial

scale

microbial

hydrogen

generation.“

Studying

whole

microbial

communities

rather

than

individual

micro

organisms

could

help

scientists

answer

fundamental

questions

such

as

how

ecosystems

respond

to

climate

change

or

pollution,

says

Dr

Jack

Gilbert

writing

in

the

May

issue

of

Microbiology

Today

Nowhere is the principle of "strength in numbers" more apparent than in the collective power of microbes: despite their simplicity, these one ‐ cell organisms

which number about

million trillion trillion strong (no, that is not a typo) on Earth

affect virtually every ecological process, from the decay of organic material to the production of oxygen. But even though microbes essentially rule the Earth, scientists have never before been able to conduct comprehensive studies of microbes and their interactions with one another in their natural habitats. Now, a new study provides the first inventories of microbial capabilities in nine very different types of ecosystems, ranging from coral reefs to deep mines. Science News

Rather than identifying the kinds of microbes that live in each ecosystem, the study catalogued each ecosystem's microbial "know

how," captured in its DNA, for conducting metabolic processes, such as respiration, photosynthesis and cell division. These microbial catalogues are more distinctive than the identities of resident microbes. "Now microbes can be studied by what they can do not who they are," said Proctor. This microbial study employed the principles of metagenomics, a powerful new method of analysis that characterizes the

DNA

content of entire communities of organisms rather than individual species. One of the main advantages of metagenomics is that it enables scientists to study microbes

most of which cannot be grown in the laboratory

in their natural habitats.

Evidence that viruses

which are known to be ten times more abundant than even microbes

serve as gene banks for ecosystems. This evidence includes observations that viruses in the nine ecosystems carried large loads of

DNA

without using such

DNA

themselves. Rohwer believes that the viruses probably transfer such excess

DNA

to bacteria during infections, and thereby pass on "new genetic tricks" to their microbial hosts. The study also indicates that by transporting the

DNA

to new locations, viruses may serve as important agents in the evolution of microbes

Summary: 1. Systems biology of microbial communities

Advances in metagenomics and technologies

Uncultured organisms (or even unculturable organisms) can be examined

Measures gene presence and activity rather than numbers or activities of individual species or cultures of microorganisms

Is many things to many people

May be too difficult to perform and interpret (today) to be really useful?

A

good “Road Map” for future studies?