Advantages and disadvantages of microarrays to study microbial population dynamics a minireview

Abstract

Microbial ecology is challenging because of practical problems associated with detecting and quantifying populations Bacteria and yeasts are not easily identified using conventional methods such as dilution plating and biochemical tests Those methods lack sensitivity are extremely timeconsuming and cannot account for unculturable organisms New DNAbased technology such as microarrays offers solutions to those problems However identification of microorganisms using DNA methodology is becoming increasingly complicated due to the variation revealed in sequenced microbe genomes Identification is no longer considered reliable when only one area of the genome is targeted and recent publications consider that sequences from six or seven different genes are required to resolve species or pathovars of fungi and bacteria reliably A large number of probes from different genes can be included on a single microarray chip The advantages and disadvantages of microarrays versus other DNA methods for studying microbial ecology of fruit surfaces are discussed

Methods for Detection of Viruses in Water and Wastewater

“…It prevents design of starters and probes, which are used in detection of viruses by molecular techniques: PCR reaction, NASBA techniques and microarrays. Therefore these techniques can be used only for organisms, which are already known, but they do not take into consideration appearing of new viruses, which are result of mutagenic, recombinatic variability or getting new genes [53].…”

Development of oligonucleotide microarrays for simultaneous multi‐species identification of Phellinus tree‐pathogenic fungi

“…This would potentially facilitate the early detection of disease or contamination. Previously, microarrays have seen limited application due to the difficulty of identifying unique sequences that can be used for inter-species differentiation (Everett et al, 2010;Frey et al, 2010), but it has been recognized in recent years that the rRNA gene regions are highly variable, and may be used to generate speciesspecific markers or probes (Schoch et al, 2012). Nuclear large subunit (LSU) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) has been used in taxonomy to establish subdivisions within the Inonotus genus s.l.…”

“…In these strategies, DNA sequence samples are first amplified, then labelled with universal primers that target conserved regions flanking variable domains, and subsequently hybridized with speciesspecific oligonucleotide probes on DNA arrays to screen for fungal pathogens (Saiki et al, 1989;McCartney et al, 2003;Tsui et al, 2011). But while it is true that array technology currently offers the best chance of realizing a simple, efficient, high-throughput pathogen detection platform that can be readily deployed in the field, one key factor has limited development thus fara lack of discriminatory genetic regions available for species identification (Everett et al, 2010;Frey et al, 2010).…”

Diagnostic and theranostic microRNAs in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis

“…These techniques are used to rapidly and sensitively analyse miRNA expression . Array techniques, such as microarrays, are suitable and practical methods for the identification of miRNAs, but they are more expensive tools than Q‐PCR for the evaluation of only a handful of miRNAs …”