由美国科学家研制的GeoChip能侦测微生物的功能性基因及特定生化程序。这项基因芯片技术是由俄克拉荷马大学（University of Oklahoma）的Jizhong Zhou教授及其研究团队所开发，在微小的芯片上包含了超过24,000个已知的基因点阵，这些微生物的基因在许多的生物地球化学（biogeochemistry）、生态学（ecology）以及环境改变等进程扮演重要的角色。

    芯片中的基因探针具有高度的专一性，并且含盖了超过150种以上的生化程序，包括氮、碳、硫以及磷的循环反应，还包括金属的还原反应及生物污染的分解等等。GeoChip是目前含盖范围最广的基因芯片，并已成功的经过生物复育领域（bioremediation field）的研究测试，用来监控受到污染的地下水中铀量的分解状况。此技术研究发表于The International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal 期刊。

（编译/陈瑞娟） (资料来源 : Bio.com)

原始出处：

Subject Category: Integrated genomics and post-genomics approaches in microbial ecology

The ISME Journal (2007) 1, 67–77; doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.2

GeoChip: a comprehensive microarray for investigating biogeochemical, ecological and environmental processes

Zhili He1,2, Terry J Gentry2,3, Christopher W Schadt2, Liyou Wu1,2, Jost Liebich2,5, Song C Chong2, Zhijian Huang2,6, Weimin Wu4, Baohua Gu2, Phil Jardine2, Craig Criddle4 and Jizhong Zhou1,2

Correspondence: Dr J Zhou, Department of Botany and Microbiology, Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma, 101 David L. Boren Blvd., Norman, OK 73019, USA. E-mail: jzhou@ou.edu

5Current address: Agrosphere Institute (ICG-IV), Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, 52425 Juelich, Germany.

6Current address: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.

Received 15 November 2006; Revised 8 February 2007; Accepted 8 February 2007.

Owing to their vast diversity and as-yet uncultivated status, detection, characterization and quantification of microorganisms in natural settings are very challenging, and linking microbial diversity to ecosystem processes and functions is even more difficult. Microarray-based genomic technology for detecting functional genes and processes has a great promise of overcoming such obstacles. Here, a novel comprehensive microarray, termed GeoChip, has been developed, containing 24 243 oligonucleotide (50 mer) probes and covering >10 000 genes in >150 functional groups involved in nitrogen, carbon, sulfur and phosphorus cycling, metal reduction and resistance, and organic contaminant degradation. The developed GeoChip was successfully used for tracking the dynamics of metal-reducing bacteria and associated communities for an in situ bioremediation study. This is the first comprehensive microarray currently available for studying biogeochemical processes and functional activities of microbial communities important to human health, agriculture, energy, global climate change, ecosystem management, and environmental cleanup and restoration. It is particularly useful for providing direct linkages of microbial genes/populations to ecosystem processes and functions.