真核微生物是深海中数量占优势、多样性高且功能重要的微型生物类群。开展深海真核微生物多样性的研究,将为理解深海生态系统结构以及微型生物多样性及其地理分布提供科学依据。迄今,深海真核微生物多样性的研究明显滞后于原核微生物,对于其形态多样性的认识仍局限于有孔虫等无需培养且通过壳体可直接鉴定的少数类群。分子生物学技术的广泛应用,极大地拓展了对深海真核微生物群落结构和多样性的认识,发现了深海中存在的大量未知的新阶元,揭示了较之形态多样性更高的分子多样性。在综述国内外研究进展的基础上,针对真核微生物多样性的研究策略、存在的问题及未来研究应关注的问题提出了建议。

Microbial eukaryotes are quantitatively predominant, highly diverse and functionally important groups of eukaryotes in the deep oceans. Investigations on the microbial eukaryotic diversity provide not only the base for elucidating the structure of deepsea ecosystems but also high support for better understanding the microbial diversity and their geographic distribution. So far, the biodiversity research on microbial eukaryotes obviously lags behind that of prokaryotes. Our knowledge of their morphological diversity mainly comes from groups (e.g. foraminiferans) that need not cultivate and are easily identified with external morphology. The application of molecular methods greatly extended our knowledge of the microbial eukaryotic diversity in deep sea, uncovering a much higher molecular than morphological diversity. More and more undescribed taxa and even novel evolutionary lineages of eukaryotes have been discovered from deep sea. By reviewing and summarizing literature data, the authors present the research progress and existing problems in the biodiversity of microbial eukaryotes in deep sea, and propose possible solutions and key issues for future research.