昆虫肠道细菌的功能和研究方法

Function and research methods of insect intestinal bacteria

昆虫肠道中存在大量的细菌,这些细菌具有种群结构和功能多样性的特点。目前的观点认为昆虫的种类和取食特性是造成这一现象的主要原因。昆虫的生长发育离不开这些微生物。早期的实验中只能利用传统平板培养方法通过观察菌落的生长形态和菌株的生理特性进行研究。但由于自然界中99%的微生物是无法培养的,同时培养法容易受到外界因素的干扰导致实验结果不准确,因而培养法无法满足研究人员对昆虫肠道细菌的深入研究。随着宏基因组学的兴起和分子生物学技术的发展,用新的技术研究昆虫肠道微生物成了当前的研究热点。为此,对昆虫肠道微生物的一些基本概念、主要功能和主要研究手段进行归纳整理。

A large number of bacteria exist in the gut of insects, which are characterized by structural and functional diversity. The current view is that the types of insects and feeding characteristics are the main causes of this phenomenon. The growth and development of insects are closely tied to these bacteria. In the early experiments, only the traditional plate culture method was used to observe the morphology of the colony and the physiological characteristics of the strain. However, 99% of the bacteria in the nature cannot be cultivated, and the culture method is susceptible to the external factors. So the traditional culture method cannot be used for the in-depth study of the insect gut bacteria. With the development of metagenomics and molecular biology technologies, the study of insect intestinal bacteria has become research hotspots. In this review, some basic concepts, main functions and main research methods of insect gut bacteria are summarized.