Duncan Margaret J
Department of Molecular Genetics, The Forsyth Institute, 140 Fenway, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Crit Rev Oral Biol Med. 2003;14(3):175-87. doi: 10.1177/154411130301400303.
Advances in bacterial genetics came with the discovery of the genetic code, followed by the development of recombinant DNA technologies. Now the field is undergoing a new revolution because of investigators' ability to sequence and assemble complete bacterial genomes. Over 200 genome projects have been completed or are in progress, and the oral microbiology research community has benefited through projects for oral bacteria and their non-oral-pathogen relatives. This review describes features of several oral bacterial genomes, and emphasizes the themes of species relationships, comparative genomics, and lateral gene transfer. Genomics is having a broad impact on basic research in microbial pathogenesis, and will lead to new approaches in clinical research and therapeutics. The oral microbiota is a unique community especially suited for new challenges to sequence the metagenomes of microbial consortia, and the genomes of uncultivable bacteria.
细菌遗传学的进展伴随着遗传密码的发现，随后是重组DNA技术的发展。现在，由于研究人员能够对完整的细菌基因组进行测序和组装，该领域正在经历一场新的革命。已经完成或正在进行200多个基因组项目，口腔微生物学研究界通过针对口腔细菌及其非口腔病原体亲属的项目受益。这篇综述描述了几种口腔细菌基因组的特征，并强调了物种关系、比较基因组学和横向基因转移等主题。基因组学正在对微生物发病机制的基础研究产生广泛影响，并将导致临床研究和治疗的新方法。口腔微生物群是一个独特的群落，特别适合应对对微生物群落宏基因组和不可培养细菌基因组进行测序的新挑战。
