深海热液喷口生物群落研究进展

近年来深海热液喷口生物群落的研究取得了大量的成果。通过调查发现，除温度外，环境化学参数、地理位置、喷口类型、热液活动周期、生物可利用率等因素都对深海热液喷口生物群落分布产生影响。随着实验室热液微生物的分离、培养成功，一些新的属种及其特殊的生理特征被发现。分子生物学技术的发展，使得对于深海热液生物基因测序、基因功能的研究和表达，功能基因对微生物生理功能的调控作用，动物与微生物之间的共生关系，生物对极端环境的适应机制等问题的研究都能够进行。对于目前不能进行实验室分离培养的微生物，通过基因组分析，也能够了解其群落结构。不同的深海热液喷口，其病毒的类型、分布、丰度以及病毒对热液生态系统的影响是不同的。通过这些研究，科学家探讨了热液喷口环境中生物群落的能量合成与代谢途径的相关理论，并提出了生命有可能起源于热液喷口环境的假说。

Recent Progress in Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vent Communities

The hydrothermal vent communities were actively studied in rescent years and significant progress has been obtained. The Iinvestigations of hydrothermal vent communities indicate that a number of factors could affect the composition of the community, including temperature, environmental chemistry, the site and type of vent, and the cycle of hydrothermal activities. In this period, representatives of several new taxa of microorganisms were identified based on the successful culture in the laboratory. The mechanism of gene in regulating the microbial physiological function, the symbiosis between animals and microbe, and the mechanism of physiological adaptations to extreme environment were established by genetic sequencing ofand functionalization of the hydrothermal organisms. Also, our knowledge on the microbial diversity and the community structure of the hydrothermal vent environment extended significantly by the macrogenetic surveys of un cultured microbe in the hydrothermal vent communities. Deep sea hydrothermal vents were also found to be inhabited by virus. The existence and significant ecological roles of chemoautotrophic and autotrophic microbe in the hydrothermal vent communities strongly support the hypothesis that the life emerges at the hydrothermal environment on the Earth.