“難培養”微生物を育てる鍵はオーダーメイド!~鉄酸化菌の高効率培養に成功、環境浄化へ期待~

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2025-05-29 愛媛大学

愛媛大学大学院農学研究科の光延聖教授と内島智貴大学院生(研究当時)は、理化学研究所、広島大学、日本原子力研究開発機構、九州大学、東京海洋大学との共同研究により、従来培養が困難だった鉄酸化細菌の培養効率を大幅に向上させる「オーダーメイド培地法」を開発しました。この方法により、鉄酸化細菌の生理・生態の解明が進み、地下水や河川水に含まれる有害物質の浄化など、微生物を利用した環境修復技術(バイオレメディエーション)への応用が期待されます。研究成果は、英国の科学雑誌『FEMS Microbiology Ecology』に2025年5月に掲載されました。

“難培養”微生物を育てる鍵はオーダーメイド!~鉄酸化菌の高効率培養に成功、環境浄化へ期待~

<関連情報>

独立栄養性鉄酸化細菌の高効率培養を可能とするカスタムメイド培地アプローチ Custom-made medium approach for effective enrichment and isolation of chemolithotrophic iron-oxidizing bacteria

Tomoki Uchijima , Shingo Kato , Kazuya Tanimoto , Fumito Shiraishi , Natsuko Hamamura , Kohei Tokunaga , Hiroko Makita , Momoko Kondo , Moriya Ohkuma , Satoshi Mitsunobu
FEMS Microbiology Ecology  Published:05 May 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiaf051

Abstract

Chemolithotrophic neutrophilic iron (Fe)-oxidizing bacteria, which mainly belong to the family Gallionellaceae, universally prevail in terrestrial environments changing Fe cycling. However, they are typically recognized as difficult-to-culture microbes. Despite efforts, there are few Fe(II)-oxidizing lithotroph isolates; hence, their physiological and ecological knowledge remains limited. This limitation is largely owing to difficulties in their cultivation, and we hypothesize that the difficulty exists because substrate and mineral concentrations in the cultivation medium are not tuned to a specific environmental condition under which these organisms live. To address this hypothesis, this study proposes a novel custom-made medium approach for chemolithotrophic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria; a method that manipulates medium components through diligent analysis of field environment. A new custom-made medium simulating energy substrates and nutrients under the field condition was prepared by modifying both chemical composition and physical setup in the glass-tube medium. In particular, the modification of the physical setup in the tube had a significant effect on adjusting dissolved Fe(II) and O2 concentrations to the field environment. Using the medium, Gallionellaceae members were successfully enriched and a new Gallionellaceae species was isolated from a natural hot spring site. Compared with conventional medium, the custom-made medium has significantly higher ability in enriching Gallionellaceae members.

生物化学工学
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