Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan.
Environ Microbiol. 2009 Dec;11(12):2963-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2009.01956.x. Epub 2009 Jun 7.
In nature, microorganisms live by interacting with each other. Microbiological studies that only consider pure cultures are not sufficient to adequately describe the natural behaviour of microbes. Several microbial interactions have been recognized to affect the growth or metabolism of others; e.g. syntrophic cometabolism, competition, production of inhibitors or activators, and predation. It is believed that third-party organisms easily affect the two-species relationships and these relationships form the basis of interspecies networks within microbial communities. A microbial network contributes to 'functional redundancy' or 'structural diversity' and the microbial communities effectively act as a multicellular organism. It is necessary to understand not only the physiological activity of members within microbial communities but also their roles to regulate the activity or population of others. To access the microbial network, we require (i) comprehensive determination of all possible interspecies relationships among microbes, (ii) knock-out experiments by which certain members can be removed or suppressed, and (iii) supplemental addition of microbes or activation of certain members. Microbial network studies have started using defined microbial communities, i.e. a mixed culture that is composed of three or four species. In order to expand these studies to microflora in nature, microbial ecology requires the help of mathematical biology.
在自然界中，微生物通过相互作用而生存。仅考虑纯培养物的微生物学研究不足以充分描述微生物的自然行为。已经认识到几种微生物相互作用会影响其他微生物的生长或代谢；例如，共代谢协同作用、竞争、抑制剂或激活剂的产生以及捕食。人们认为，第三方生物很容易影响两种物种之间的关系，这些关系构成了微生物群落中种间网络的基础。微生物网络有助于“功能冗余”或“结构多样性”，微生物群落有效地充当多细胞生物。不仅需要了解微生物群落中成员的生理活性，还需要了解它们调节其他成员活性或种群的作用。要了解微生物网络，我们需要 (i) 全面确定微生物之间所有可能的种间关系，(ii) 通过敲除实验去除或抑制某些成员，以及 (iii) 添加微生物或激活某些成员的补充。微生物网络研究已经开始使用定义明确的微生物群落，即由三种或四种物种组成的混合培养物。为了将这些研究扩展到自然界中的微生物群，微生物生态学需要数学生物学的帮助。
