Dynamics, gene transfer, and ecological function of intracellular and extracellular DNA in environmental microbiome

Abstract

Extracellular DNA (eDNA) and intracellular DNA (iDNA) extensively exist in both terrestrial and aquatic environment systems and have been found to play a significant role in the nutrient cycling and genetic information transmission between the environment and microorganisms. As inert DNA sequences, eDNA is able to present stability in the environment from the ribosome enzyme lysis, therein acting as the historical genetic information archive of the microbiome. As a consequence, both eDNA and iDNA can shed light on the functional gene variety and the corresponding microbial activity. In addition, eDNA is a ubiquitous composition of the cell membrane, which exerts a great impact on the resistance of outer stress from environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals, antibiotics, pesticides, and so on. This study focuses on the environmental dynamics and the ecological functions of the eDNA and iDNA from the perspectives of environmental behavior, genetic information transmission, resistance to the environmental contaminants, and so on. By reviewing the status quo and the future vista of the e/iDNAs research, this article sheds light on exploring the ecological functioning of the e/iDNAs in the environmental microbiome.