微生物细胞膜纳米管的研究进展

Research progress in microbial membrane nanotubes

摘要:

细胞膜纳米管(membrane nanotubes, MNTs)是可以介导细胞间物质和信号交流的细胞膜凸起结构。植物和动物细胞的MNTs (胞间连丝和隧道纳米管)已经得到广泛研究，而微生物MNTs被发现较晚。目前，MNTs已经在来自海洋、土壤、湖泊和肠道的20余种古菌(如阿斯加德古菌)和细菌[如枯草芽孢杆菌(Bacillus subtilis)、大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli)]中被发现。微生物MNTs在生命生存、进化和人体健康中发挥了重要作用，因而受到了微生物学、医学和环境科学等多个学科的关注。本文对MNTs的物种分布、结构特征、形成机制和主要功能进行归纳和分析，并对该领域需要解决的主要问题和未来的研究方向进行展望，以期为相关领域的研究人员提供参考。

Abstract:

Microbial membrane nanotubes (MNTs) are cellular membrane extensions that transfer materials and information among cells. MNTs in plants (plasmodesmata) and animals (tunneling nanotubes) have been widely investigated, while microbial MNTs were founded lately. To date, MNTs have been founded in over 20 microbial species, including archaea (e.g., Asgard archaea) and bacteria (e.g., Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli) isolated from ocean, soil, lake, and gut environments. Microbial MNTs play potentially essential roles in the survival and evolution of all kinds of life and the human health, thus attracting interests of multiple researching fields including microbiology, medicine, and environmental sciences. With the aim to provide useful information, this paper reviews the research progress in MNTs regarding the producing microorganisms, structural properties, formation mechanisms, and main functions. Furthermore, we provide prospects on the main challenges and directions of the research on microbial MNTs.