Maloy Stanley, Schaechter Moselio
Center for Microbial Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92186-4614, USA.
Int Microbiol. 2006 Mar;9(1):1-7.
The discoveries over the last decade have demonstrated that microbiology is a central scientific discipline with practical applications in agriculture, medicine, bioremediation, biotechnology, engineering, and other fields. It is clear that the roles of microbes in nature are so diverse that the process of mining this genetic variation for new applications will continue long into the future. Moreover, the rapid rate of microbial evolution ensures that there will be no permanent solution to agricultural, medical, or environmental problems caused by microbes. These problems will demand a continual stream of creative new approaches that evolve along with the microbes. Thus, the excitement of this field will continue long into the future. However, these opportunities and imperatives demand a deep understanding of basic microbial physiology, genetics, and ecology. Major challenges that lay ahead are to impart the broad training needed to entice and enable the next generation of microbiologists, and to educate the public and government representatives about the continued and critical importance of this field for health and the economy.
过去十年的发现表明，微生物学是一门核心科学学科，在农业、医学、生物修复、生物技术、工程和其他领域都有实际应用。很明显，微生物在自然界中的作用是如此多样，以至于挖掘这种基因变异以用于新应用的过程将在很长一段时间内持续下去。此外，微生物进化的快速速度确保了由微生物引起的农业、医学或环境问题不会有永久的解决方案。这些问题将需要源源不断的创造性新方法，这些方法要随着微生物的进化而发展。因此，这个领域的热度将在很长一段时间内持续下去。然而，这些机遇和要求需要对基本的微生物生理学、遗传学和生态学有深入的理解。摆在面前的主要挑战是提供广泛的培训，以吸引和培养下一代微生物学家，并向公众和政府代表宣传该领域对健康和经济持续且至关重要的意义。
