Microarrays and Their Application to Environmental Microorganisms
基因芯片及其在环境微生物研究中的应用

Microarray take advantage of the advanced technologies of molecular biology, semi-conduct microelectronics, laser, chemical dyes and so on, and is the high-cross and comprehensive advanced science and hot spot of study. Compared with traditional nucleic acid methods, microarray offer the additional advantages of high density, high sensitivity, rapid (real-time) detection, lower cost, automation, and low background levels and so on. Therefore, microarray-based technology has been used in many fields and is potentially well suited for identifying populations of microorganisms in natural environments. The microarray used in environmental microbial studies can be divided into three major classes, including functional gene arrays(FGAs), phylogenetic oligonucleotide arrays(POAs) and community genome arrays(CGAs). In this review, we viewed microarray's application to research on environmental microorganisms, such as analyzing microbial gene express in environment, comparable genome analysis and environmental microbial community analysis. At last, the challenges and future perspectives of microarray in natural environment was discussed.