Ghosh Shiladitya, Chowdhury Ranjana, Bhattacharya Pinaki
Chemical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India.
Chemical Engineering Department, Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata, 700107, India.
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2016 May;100(10):4283-95. doi: 10.1007/s00253-016-7448-1. Epub 2016 Apr 2.
The utilization of mixed consortia or mixed culture has become a current research trend of applied microbiology, bioprocess engineering and biotechnology. The constituent microorganisms of such mixed cultures can jointly perform complex processes efficiently, yielding the desired product at an augmented rate, in comparison to monocultures. It is understandable that the interactions between the microbial partners in these mixed cultures are expected to have a significant impact on the combined performance of the microorganisms and the bioprocess as a whole. Prevalence of positive interactions (commensalism or mutualism) among microbial members of a mixed culture or consortia can significantly enhance the product outcome of the bioprocess, ensuring their industrial application and long-term stability. On the contrary, negative interaction (parasitism, predation or ammensalism) leads to elimination of microbial members from the consortia causing the destruction of community structure as well as disruption of cumulative performance. Therefore, a priori knowledge on the type of interaction between the microorganisms is also essential for the optimization of the performance of the designed consortia. This could only be achieved through the study of inter-microbial interaction prevailing in a mixed culture. In the present article, different bioprocess applications of mixed cultures, currently in practice along with types of positive microbial interactions involved, have been reviewed. Complexity of mixed cultures from the perspective of multiple types of intra-culture relationships has been explained in detail. Overall, the necessity for more in-depth research studies on "microbial interaction" in mixed culture bioprocesses has been stressed in the article.
混合菌群或混合培养物的利用已成为应用微生物学、生物过程工程和生物技术领域当前的研究趋势。与单一培养物相比，此类混合培养物中的组成微生物能够共同高效地执行复杂过程，以更高的速率产生所需产物。可以理解，这些混合培养物中微生物伙伴之间的相互作用预计会对微生物的综合性能以及整个生物过程产生重大影响。混合培养物或菌群中微生物成员之间普遍存在的积极相互作用（共生或互利共生）可显著提高生物过程的产物产量，确保其工业应用和长期稳定性。相反，消极相互作用（寄生、捕食或偏害共生）会导致微生物成员从菌群中被淘汰，从而破坏群落结构并扰乱累积性能。因此，关于微生物之间相互作用类型的先验知识对于优化设计菌群的性能也至关重要。这只能通过研究混合培养物中普遍存在的微生物间相互作用来实现。在本文中，对目前实际应用的混合培养物的不同生物过程应用以及所涉及的积极微生物相互作用类型进行了综述。从多种培养内关系类型的角度详细解释了混合培养物的复杂性。总体而言，本文强调了对混合培养生物过程中“微生物相互作用”进行更深入研究的必要性。
