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Review
. 2016 Sep 27:7:1521.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01521. eCollection 2016.

Metagenomics of Thermophiles with a Focus on Discovery of Novel Thermozymes

María-Eugenia DeCastro  1 , Esther Rodríguez-Belmonte  1 , María-Isabel González-Siso  1
Affiliations
Review

Metagenomics of Thermophiles with a Focus on Discovery of Novel Thermozymes

María-Eugenia DeCastro et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Microbial populations living in environments with temperatures above 50°C (thermophiles) have been widely studied, increasing our knowledge in the composition and function of these ecological communities. Since these populations express a broad number of heat-resistant enzymes (thermozymes), they also represent an important source for novel biocatalysts that can be potentially used in industrial processes. The integrated study of the whole-community DNA from an environment, known as metagenomics, coupled with the development of next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, has allowed the generation of large amounts of data from thermophiles. In this review, we summarize the main approaches commonly utilized for assessing the taxonomic and functional diversity of thermophiles through metagenomics, including several bioinformatics tools and some metagenome-derived methods to isolate their thermozymes.

Keywords: NGS; bioinformatics; metagenomics; thermophiles; thermozymes.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the main approaches used for metagenomic analysis of thermophiles.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The two major strategies used for screening metagenomes in search of new thermozymes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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