Ung Lawson, Bispo Paulo J M, Bryan Noelle C, Andre Camille, Chodosh James, Gilmore Michael S
Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Infectious Disease Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Microorganisms. 2019 Dec 25;8(1):46. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8010046.
The study of the forces which govern the geographical distributions of life is known as biogeography, a subject which has fascinated zoologists, botanists and ecologists for centuries. Advances in our understanding of community ecology and biogeography-supported by rapid improvements in next generation sequencing technology-have now made it possible to identify and explain where and why life exists as it does, including within the microbial world. In this review, we highlight how a unified model of microbial biogeography, one which incorporates the classic ecological principles of selection, diversification, dispersion and ecological drift, can be used to explain community dynamics in the settings of both health and disease. These concepts operate on a multiplicity of temporal and spatial scales, and together form a powerful lens through which to study microbial population structures even at the finest anatomical resolutions. When applied specifically to curious strains of conjunctivitis-causing, nonencapsulated , we show how this conceptual framework can be used to explain the possible evolutionary and disease-causing mechanisms which allowed these lineages to colonize and invade a separate biogeography. An intimate knowledge of this radical bifurcation in phylogeny, still the only known niche subspecialization for to date, is critical to understanding the pathogenesis of ocular surface infections, nature of host-pathogen interactions, and developing strategies to curb disease transmission.
研究支配生命地理分布的力量的学科被称为生物地理学，几个世纪以来，这门学科一直吸引着动物学家、植物学家和生态学家。在新一代测序技术的快速进步的支持下，我们对群落生态学和生物地理学的理解取得了进展，现在已经能够识别和解释生命为何以及在何处以现有的方式存在，包括在微生物世界中。在这篇综述中，我们强调了一个统一的微生物生物地理学模型，该模型纳入了选择、多样化、扩散和生态漂变等经典生态原理，如何能够用于解释健康和疾病背景下的群落动态。这些概念在多个时间和空间尺度上发挥作用，共同形成了一个强大的视角，即使在最精细的解剖分辨率下，也能通过这个视角来研究微生物种群结构。当具体应用于引起结膜炎的非包膜奇特菌株时，我们展示了这个概念框架如何能够用于解释这些谱系得以定殖并侵入一个单独生物地理学区域可能的进化和致病机制。深入了解这种系统发育中的根本分歧（这仍然是迄今为止已知的唯一生态位特化）对于理解眼表感染的发病机制、宿主与病原体相互作用的本质以及制定遏制疾病传播的策略至关重要。
