Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine 04575, USA.
Annu Rev Microbiol. 2010;64:561-83. doi: 10.1146/annurev.micro.112408.134208.
In the 1830s, iron bacteria were among the first groups of microbes to be recognized for carrying out a fundamental geological process, namely the oxidation of iron. Due to lingering questions about their metabolism, coupled with difficulties in culturing important community members, studies of Fe-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) have lagged behind those of other important microbial lithotrophic metabolisms. Recently, research on lithotrophic, oxygen-dependent FeOB that grow at circumneutral pH has accelerated. This work is driven by several factors including the recognition by both microbiologists and geoscientists of the role FeOB play in the biogeochemistry of iron and other elements. The isolation of new strains of obligate FeOB allowed a better understanding of their physiology and phylogeny and the realization that FeOB are abundant at certain deep-sea hydrothermal vents. These ancient microorganisms offer new opportunities to learn about fundamental biological processes that can be of practical importance.
19 世纪 30 年代，铁细菌是第一批被发现能够进行基本地质过程的微生物之一，即铁的氧化。由于对其新陈代谢仍存在疑问，再加上培养重要的群落成员存在困难，因此对铁氧化菌（FeOB）的研究落后于其他重要的微生物岩石营养代谢。最近，对在中性 pH 值条件下依赖氧气进行岩石营养生长的 FeOB 的研究正在加速。这一工作的驱动力包括微生物学家和地球科学家对 FeOB 在铁和其他元素的生物地球化学中所起作用的认识。对专性 FeOB 新菌株的分离，使人们能够更好地了解它们的生理学和系统发育，并认识到在某些深海热液喷口存在大量的 FeOB。这些古老的微生物为了解具有实际重要性的基本生物学过程提供了新的机会。
