Post-Koch Ecological Physical Chemistry Based on Molecular Spectroscopic Profiling

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Post-Koch Ecology: The next-era microbial ecology that elucidates the super-terrestrial organism system
• Project/Area Number: 19H05681
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Complex systems
• Research Institution: Kwansei Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: Shigeto Shinsuke 関西学院大学, 理学部, 教授 (10756696)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 劉 宗翰 関西学院大学, 理工学研究科, 助教 (10825475)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: ラマン分光 / 機械学習 / シングルセル解析 / 微生物識別 / アーキア / 希少放線菌

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To develop a "post-Koch" technique that allows for nondestructive analysis of the species and functions of unknown microbes, we combined Raman-based molecular spectroscopic techniques with machine learning and gel-filled microarray devices. Using machine learning of single-cell Raman data, we achieved highly accurate species- and domain-level classification of bacteria and archaea. We demonstrated and established protocols in which soil microbes are cultured on newly developed gel-filled microarray devices, subjected to Raman measurements, and picked up for further analysis. We also measured, for the first time to our knowledge, characteristic Raman spectra of methanogenic archaea and rare actinomycetes.

Free Research Field

分子分光学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で開発したラマンスペクトルの機械学習によるバクテリアとアーキアの非破壊識別法を用いれば、生分解性プラスチックやカロテノイドなどの有用物質を多く生産するバクテリアやこれまでまったく未知であったアーキアを環境中で高精度に発見することが可能になると期待される。本研究の成果は生態系の理解の深化やバイオものづくりの革新を導く高い学術的・社会的意義を有している。