Fulke Abhay B, Sharma Nilkanth, Nadekar Jayshree
Microbiology Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO), Regional 5 Centre, Lokhandwala Road, Four Bungalows, Andheri (West), , Mumbai, 400053, Maharashtra, India.
Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India.
Microb Ecol. 2025 Jul 18;88(1):77. doi: 10.1007/s00248-025-02527-y.
Microorganisms are essential players in Earth's ecosystems, demonstrating remarkable adaptability to harsh conditions including arctic ice caps, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and high-pressure oceanic zones. While the study of these extremophiles has long been constrained by challenges in culturing, recent advances in metagenomic techniques have enabled a deeper understanding of microbial diversity in these extreme habitats. This review explores both culturable and non-culturable microbial communities, focusing on the diverse strategies employed by microorganisms to thrive in harsh conditions, including high pressure, temperature, salinity, and nutrient limitations. Traditional cultivation methods often fail to capture the full spectrum of deep-sea microbiota due to the unique growth requirements of many organisms. In the omic era, however, microbial cultivation and the function of microbial resources are important. Non-culturable methods, like metagenomic studies and environmental DNA sequencing, have uncovered hitherto unknown microbial taxa and metabolic pathways, offering important new information on microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. The complex microbial interactions and adaptive methods that support these ecosystems are highlighted by case studies, including as studies on hydrothermal plumes and hadal deposits. The expanding significance of non-culturable techniques in microbial research is highlighted in this review, which also highlights how they might help us better understand microbial life in harsh conditions and how they may be used in biotechnology and environmental management.
微生物是地球生态系统中的重要参与者，它们对包括北极冰盖、深海热液喷口和高压海洋区域在内的恶劣环境表现出显著的适应性。长期以来，对这些极端微生物的研究一直受到培养方面挑战的限制，但宏基因组技术的最新进展使人们能够更深入地了解这些极端栖息地中的微生物多样性。本综述探讨了可培养和不可培养的微生物群落，重点关注微生物在高压、高温、高盐度和营养限制等恶劣条件下茁壮成长所采用的各种策略。由于许多生物独特的生长要求，传统培养方法往往无法涵盖深海微生物群的全貌。然而，在组学时代，微生物培养和微生物资源的功能至关重要。宏基因组研究和环境DNA测序等不可培养方法已经发现了迄今未知的微生物分类群和代谢途径，为微生物生态学和生物地球化学提供了重要的新信息。通过案例研究，包括对热液羽流和超深渊沉积物的研究，突出了支持这些生态系统的复杂微生物相互作用和适应性方法。本综述强调了不可培养技术在微生物研究中日益重要的意义，同时也强调了它们如何帮助我们更好地理解恶劣条件下的微生物生命，以及它们如何应用于生物技术和环境管理。
