Szabó Gitta, Eloe-Fadrosh Emiley A, Pett-Ridge Jennifer, Woyke Tanja
Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA.
Nat Rev Genet. 2025 Sep 15. doi: 10.1038/s41576-025-00888-1.
Microorganisms are essential to all life on Earth through critical roles in key biological processes and diverse interactions with other organisms that shape ecosystems, drive biogeochemical cycles and influence both human health and environmental health. High-throughput sequencing from environmental samples has revolutionized the understanding of microbial diversity and functions. With vast amounts of genomes now available across Earth's biomes, these data provide a blueprint of microbial life that can be harnessed for a more holistic understanding of microbiome structure and function across the various ecosystems on Earth. Here we review the application of genome-centric approaches, including recent advances in single-cell sequencing and functional profiling, to survey microbial and viral diversity. We highlight some of the most impactful evolutionary and functional discoveries, explore the spatial diversity and temporal dynamics of microorganisms across diverse environments, and discuss genome-enabled insights into host-associated microorganisms.
微生物对于地球上所有生命至关重要，它们在关键生物过程中发挥着关键作用，并与其他生物进行多样的相互作用，这些相互作用塑造了生态系统、推动了生物地球化学循环，并影响着人类健康和环境健康。来自环境样本的高通量测序彻底改变了我们对微生物多样性和功能的理解。随着地球上各生物群落中现有的大量基因组，这些数据提供了微生物生命的蓝图，可用于更全面地了解地球上各种生态系统中的微生物组结构和功能。在这里，我们回顾了以基因组为中心的方法的应用，包括单细胞测序和功能分析的最新进展，以调查微生物和病毒的多样性。我们强调了一些最具影响力的进化和功能发现，探索了不同环境中微生物的空间多样性和时间动态，并讨论了基于基因组对宿主相关微生物的见解。
