细胞外DNA(eDNA)和细胞内DNA(iDNA)广泛存在于陆地和水生环境系统中,并在环境与微生物之间的营养循环和遗传信息传递中起着重要作用。作为惰性DNA序列,eDNA能够通过核糖体酶裂解在环境中呈现稳定性,其中充当微生物组的历史遗传信息档案。因此,eDNA和iDNA都可以揭示功能基因的多样性和相应的微生物活性。此外,eDNA是细胞膜的一种普遍存在的成分,这对环境污染物的外部应力的抵抗力产生了很大的影响,如重金属,抗生素,杀虫剂,等等。本研究从环境行为的角度研究eDNA和iDNA的环境动力学和生态功能,遗传信息传递,对环境污染物的抵抗力,等等。通过回顾e/iDNAs研究的现状和未来前景,本文为探索e/iDNAs在环境微生物组中的生态功能提供了启示。
Extracellular DNA (eDNA) and intracellular DNA (iDNA) extensively exist in both terrestrial and aquatic environment systems and have been found to play a significant role in the nutrient cycling and genetic information transmission between the environment and microorganisms. As inert DNA sequences, eDNA is able to present stability in the environment from the ribosome enzyme lysis, therein acting as the historical genetic information archive of the microbiome. As a consequence, both eDNA and iDNA can shed light on the functional gene variety and the corresponding microbial activity. In addition, eDNA is a ubiquitous composition of the cell membrane, which exerts a great impact on the resistance of outer stress from environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals, antibiotics, pesticides, and so on. This study focuses on the environmental dynamics and the ecological functions of the eDNA and iDNA from the perspectives of environmental behavior, genetic information transmission, resistance to the environmental contaminants, and so on. By reviewing the status quo and the future vista of the e/iDNAs research, this article sheds light on exploring the ecological functioning of the e/iDNAs in the environmental microbiome.