Designed for the identification of sporulating fungal genera important in environmental monitoring, food spoilage and agriculture, extended to include clinically important strains
The MicroLog Filamentous Fungi database (for use with the MicroStation microbial identification system from Oxoid) provides enhanced identification capabilities for environmental laboratories.
It complements the existing MicroLog databases to provide accurate and reproducible identification of over 2000 species of bacteria, yeast and fungi.
The database was been developed in collaboration with two world-renowned mycologists, John Bisset at Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada, and Rob Samson at Centraalbureau Voor Schimmelcultures, Netherlands.
Traditional methods for the identification of fungal species are often subjective and time-consuming.
By simplifying and improving the identification and characterisation of filamentous fungi, the MicroStation system now provides accurate and reproducible results significantly faster than traditional methods (in days rather than weeks).
The Filamentous Fungi database also includes a comprehensive library of microscopic and macroscopic digital photographs that can be reviewed automatically, allowing verification of identifications with morphological criteria. MicroStation's microbial identification technology is based on patented carbon-source utilisation 'fingerprinting'. Following isolation on solid media (and, for bacterial cultures, Gram staining to determine the testing protocol) the organism is introduced to a wide variety of pre-selected carbon sources in the 96-well microplate.
Incubation of four hours or less then produces a characteristic biochemical pattern called a metabolic fingerprint.
An accurate identification of the organism is then obtained by comparison with stored fingerprints in the MicroLog databases.
In addition to providing accurate identification of individual species, the MicroStation system is valuable in environmental analysis.
The biochemical characterisation information contained in each MicroPlate is enormous as one plate collects carbon source utilisation data for 95 different compounds.
Bacterial communities can be analysed using the microplate technology.
By applying PCA (principal component analysis) to the microplate data, changes or relationships between microbial communities can be tracked.
For example, the system can be used to trace individual strains of bacteria from environmental sources to product contamination.
It can also be used for fingerprinting and tracking microbes from a variety of environmental samples.
