Publication Date:
2018-02-16
Description:
Phytoplankton community analysis is important with respect to natural or humaninduced
changes in the marine environment. Because of the efforts involved and the
limitations of traditional methods, molecular sensing approaches are becoming more
popular. Among others, microarray techniques targeting ribosomal 18S sequences
have been successfully applied for phytoplankton investigation. In this contribution,
we compared the results of two microarray methods targeting 18S rDNA and 18S
rRNA with the results obtained from microscopy, HPLC and flow cytometry. On a
qualitative basis, the microarrays showed similar or potentially better performance
than the non-molecular methods. Quantitatively, our data suggest that microarray
signals obtained from 18S rDNA provide relatively rough estimates of phytoplankton
abundance. In contrast, when targeting 18S rRNA instead, a robust linear relationship
(r2 ¼ 0.68) between molecular sensing signal and microscopic cell counts could be
demonstrated using a probe specific to the genus Pseudo-nitzschia as an example. Thus,
for both qualitative and quantitative purposes, microarray techniques can be valuable
additions to traditional methods for phytoplankton analysis. Routine monitoring
approaches in particular could benefit from advantages like reduced effort, higher
taxonomic resolution and a potential for automation.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
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