技術が拓く湖沼微生物生態学の最前線

Abstract

In microbial ecology, technical challenges owing to the small cell size of organisms have been a bottleneck; however, new technologies have directly led to discoveries and breakthroughs, paving the way for novel insights. This review examines recent developments in lake microbial ecology, with a particular focus on their technological foundations and practical considerations for application in lakes. Amplicon sequencing and metagenomic analyses, which have emerged with the development of high-throughput DNA sequencing and analysis technologies, have revolutionized our understanding of the diversity and ecology of microbes that are difficult to culture in various environments. The significance of cell counting and microscopy, such as fluorescent in situ hybridization, has increased as nucleotide sequence data have become more comprehensive. Isolating difficult-to-culture microorganisms has also become a means of complementing information and testing the hypotheses obtained from sequencing data. We are now in an era in which we can determine "who is doing what" within complex microbial ecosystems at a high resolution, dispelling the notion that microbial ecosystems are "black boxes." The diverse expertise and approaches offered by the framework of limnology are key to making the best use of this vast amount of data.