Community Analysis Using High-Throughput Microarray-based Method

Microarray-based approach is a powerful tool for bacterial detection and microbial community analysis in a high-throughput manner. Creative Biolabs offers the best microarray-based microbial community analysis services based on multiple types of microarrays. Especially, phylogenetic microarrays containing 16S rRNA genes enable the high-throughput quantitative analysis of microbial abundance in complex communities.

Introduction of Microarray-based Method

Microarray is a high-throughput technology for gene expression analysis. It consists of an array of hundreds to thousands of DNA probes immobilized on a solid surface. The expression patterns of many target genes of a particular sample can be assessed in one assay by detecting fluorescence signals triggered by the hybridization of the probes with complementary target DNA or RNA sequences. The major advantage of this technology is that many genes of a sample can be analyzed with thousands of probes simultaneously. In addition to investigating the gene expression of an organism, microarray-based methods have been also reported as a potentially powerful technique for bacterial detection and microbial community analysis.

Fig.1 Metagenomic profiling. (Jonathan, 2003)

Types of Microarrays

Several types of microarrays have recently been developed and evaluated for bacterial detection and microbial community analysis. Here introduce several types:

• Functional Gene Arrays

The detection of the genes encoding functional enzymes related to biogeochemical cycling processes such as carbon, nitrogen, sulfate, and metals is of great significance for monitoring the physiological status and functional activities of microbial populations and communities in the natural environment. Microarrays containing functional gene sequence information can be used for the functional analysis of microbial community activity in the environment.

• Community Genome Arrays

A novel prototype microarray containing whole genomic DNA has been developed for the detection and identification of microorganisms in environmental samples. This microarray contains genomic DNA isolated from 67 representative microorganisms from the environment and can be useful for monitoring microbial community composition in natural environments without prior knowledge of gene sequence. The main disadvantage of the microarray is that only the cultured components of a community can be monitored.

• Phylogenetic Oligonucleotide Arrays

16S rRNA genes are attractive molecules for analyzing microbial community structure in natural environments and act as useful targets for developing microarray-based detection approaches owing to its ubiquitous presence in all organisms and the conservation of its nucleotide. Microarrays containing 16S rRNA genes have been proved to as a powerful tool for high-throughput quantitative analysis of microbial abundance in complex communities with high sensitivity.

Fig.2 Flow diagram of phylogenetic microarrays.

Our Capacities

With years of experience in microbial community analysis, Creative Biolabs is skilled in the detection and identification of microbial community structure in a high-throughput and reproducible manner. Based on multiple microarrays with ~1 million gene probes per chip, important low abundance bacteria in a complex microbial community can be detected. Besides, microarrays containing a variety of 16S rRNA genes also allow identification and detection of the relative abundance of over 50,000 individual microbial taxa with high sensitivity and high resolution.

If you are interested in microbial community analysis using high-throughput microarray method, please feel free to contact us for more details.

Reference

1. Jonathan, L.S.; et al. Metagenomic profiling: microarray analysis of an environmental genomic library. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2003, 69(8): 4927-34.

For Research Use Only. Not intended for use in food manufacturing or medical procedures (diagnostics or therapeutics). Do Not Use in Humans.