J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, California 92121, USA.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2012 Sep;10(9):631-40. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro2857.
Sequencing DNA from single cells has opened new windows onto the microbial world. It is becoming routine to sequence bacterial species directly from environmental samples or clinical specimens without the need to develop cultivation methods. Recent technical improvements often allow nearly complete genome assembly from these otherwise inaccessible species. New bioinformatics methods are also improving genome assembly from single cells. The use of single-cell sequencing in combination with metagenomic analysis is also emerging as a powerful new strategy to analyse bacterial communities. Here, the technical developments that have enabled single-cell sequencing, as well as some of the most exciting applications of this approach from the past few years, are reviewed.
单细胞 DNA 测序为微生物世界打开了新的窗口。直接从环境样本或临床标本中对细菌物种进行测序，而无需开发培养方法，这已成为常规做法。最近的技术改进通常允许从这些原本无法进入的物种中几乎完全组装基因组。新的生物信息学方法也在提高单细胞基因组组装的质量。单细胞测序与宏基因组分析相结合的使用也正在成为分析细菌群落的一种强大的新策略。本文综述了单细胞测序的技术发展，以及过去几年中该方法的一些最令人兴奋的应用。
