PRESS RELEASE FROM THE ISME JOURNAL
(http://www.nature.com/ismej/)
This press release is copyrighted to The International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal.
Its use is granted only for journalists and news media receiving it directly from the Nature
Publishing Group.
Spying on the activities of micro-organisms with GeoChip
The development of the GeoChip is described in an article published this week in The ISME
Journal. This novel genomics-based tool can detect functional genes and processes within a
microbial community, and has many potential applications.
We currently know very little about micro-organisms and how they function as a
community despite their having a direct impact on our daily lives and the planet we live on.
The GeoChip, a novel type of gene chip technology developed by Jizhong Zhou and
colleagues should help to address this. Essentially, GeoChip consists of a collection of
microscopic DNA spots on a tiny chip – each spot representing a different gene probe. The
GeoChip contains more than 24,000 probes from all the known microbial genes involved in
various biogeochemical, ecological and environmental processes. The probes used are highly
specific and cover more than 150 functional groups of genes involved in nitrogen, carbon,
sulphur and phosphorus cycling, metal reduction and organic contaminant degradation. This
is the first most comprehensive gene chip for studying biogeochemical, ecological and
environmental processes.
The GeoChip was successfully tested in a bioremediation field study. It was used to
monitor a microbial community as it reduced uranium levels in contaminated groundwater.
The results from the GeoChip showed which genes were correlated with geochemistry during
the process and which populations of microbes were the most active.
Bioremediation is only one of the many possible applications of the GeoChip. The
authors have applied the developed GeoChip to a variety of systems such as forest,
grassland and agriculture soils, marine and river sediments, hydrothermal vent, deep marine
biosphere, bioreactors, and waste water treatments. They believe that it has great potential,
and should have an impact on a diversity of areas affected by micro-organisms – including
human health, agriculture, global climate change, environmental cleanup and restoration.
GeoChip: a comprehensive microarray for investigating biogeochemical, ecological
and environmental processes
Zhili He, Terry J Gentry, Christopher W Schadt, Liyou Wu, Jost Liebich, Song C Chong,
Zhijian Huang, Weimin Wu, Baohua Gu, Phil Jardine, Craig Criddle and Jizhong Zhou
10.1038/ismej.2007.2
http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/v1/n1/abs/ismej20072a.html
Author contacts:
Dr Jizhong Zhou (University of Oklahoma, OK, USA)
Tel: +1 405 325 6073; E-mail: jzhou@ou.edu
Editorial contact:
Emma Greenwood (Nature Publishing Group, London)
Tel: +44 207 843 4793; E-mail: emma.greenwood@nature.com
Media contacts:
Helen Jamison (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: h.jamison@nature.com
Katie McGoldrick (Nature Washington)
Tel: +1 202 737 2355; E-mail: k.mcgoldrick@naturedc.com
Mika Nakano (Nature Tokyo)
Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: m.nakano@natureasia.com
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