Jenks P J
Unité de Pathogénie Bactérienne des Muqueuses, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
J Med Microbiol. 1998 May;47(5):375-82. doi: 10.1099/00222615-47-5-375.
In 1995, Haemophilus influenzae became the first free-living organism to have its entire genome sequence published. Since then, many similar projects have been started and, by the millennium, the genomes of a significant number of important human pathogens will have been sequenced. During this period of increasing access to microbial sequence data, parallel advances have occurred in techniques that allow the large-scale study of the entire genetic complement of micro-organisms. In the near future, these approaches will enable researchers to unravel further the complexity of microbial pathogenesis and identify new virulence determinants. Many of these will be suitable targets for development as diagnostic reagents, antimicrobial agents and vaccine candidates. Although it is difficult to predict the full impact that this almost overwhelming volume of information will have on the practice of microbiology, it is clear that it will result ultimately in new ways of diagnosing and combating infectious diseases.
1995年，流感嗜血杆菌成为首个公布全基因组序列的自由生活生物体。自那时起，许多类似项目纷纷启动，到千禧年时，大量重要人类病原体的基因组将被测序。在获取微生物序列数据日益增多的这段时期，用于大规模研究微生物完整遗传组成的技术也取得了同步进展。在不久的将来，这些方法将使研究人员能够进一步揭示微生物致病机制的复杂性，并识别出新的毒力决定因素。其中许多将成为开发诊断试剂、抗菌药物和候选疫苗的合适靶点。尽管难以预测这几乎海量的信息会对微生物学实践产生何种全面影响，但很明显，它最终将带来诊断和对抗传染病的新方法。
