The GeoChip is a glass slide containing oligonucleotide probes targeting genes that confer specific function to micro-organism. The GeoChip has been used to dissect the microbial community functional structure of environmental samples. The PhyloChip is a glass slide containing oligonucleotide probes of the 16S rRNA genes and it offers tremendous potential to monitor microbial population. Below ground microbial community can be linked to the above ground plant community by the use of these Chips in a high throughput manner. This review seeks to determine the various roles of the GeoChip and the PhyloChip in soil microbial ecology studies. During biostimulation of uranium in groundwater, microbial community dynamics was linked to functional processes and in global warming studies, microbial response to functional gene structure has been possible by the use of the GeoChip. The PhyloChip, on the other hand, provides more comprehensive survey of the microbial diversity, composition and structure and are less susceptible to the influence of dominance in microbial community. Some of the concerns regarding the use of compost in agricultural soils i.e. the spread of human, animal and plant pathogens were reduced when the PhyloChip was used to monitor composting.
KeywordsGeoChipPhyloChipBiodiversityMicroarray
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