Standardised samples for the Earth Microbiome Project

MO BIO Power DNA kits, available in the UK from Cambio, are being used by scientists around the world to provide standardised samples for the Earth Microbiome Project (EMP).

This huge multidisciplinary attempt to characterise the global microbial taxonomic and functional diversity will involve analysing 200,000 samples.

MO BIO is donating Power DNA kits for process validation of the initial 10,000 environmental samples.

Specific kits optimised for isolation of microbial DNA from water, soil, biofilm, and other sample types, all use MO BIO’s patented Inhibitor Removal Technology (IRT).

This development enables DNA to be purified from samples with a high content of PCR inhibiting compounds, such as humic acids, polyphenols or polysaccharides.

The EMP DNA Extraction Protocol is based on the MO BIO PowerSoil-htp 96 Well Soil DNA Isolation Kit , enabling scientists participating in the EMP to standardise the way in which they look at the genomes of microbes living in soil, water, sediment, air and plant specimens.

According to environmental microbiologist Dr Jack Gilbert of Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, ’There are more bacteria in the world than there are stars in the known universe. Microbes are vital to life, performing the vast majority of all metabolic processes and controlling health in every living organism.

“The Earth Microbiome Project aims to construct a microbial biomap for planet Earth, using metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and amplicon sequencing techniques.

“Contributions from microbial ecologists, genomicists, microbiologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and ecosystem modellers will help provide the most comprehensive global assessment of microbial life ever seen. Just as the Human Genome Project has revolutionised biomedicine, the Earth Microbiome Project will revolutionise the way we can assess and model the health of our planet.’