Phylogenetic Microarrays for Cultivation-Independent Identification and Metabolic Characterization of Microorganisms in Complex Samples

High-throughput sequencing and hybridization technologies promise new insights into the natural diversity and dynamics of microorganisms. Among these new technologies are phylogenetic oligonucleotide microarrays (phylochips) that depend on the standard molecules for taxonomic and environmental studies of microorganisms: the ribosomal RNAs and their encoding genes. The beauty of phylochip hybridization is that a sample can be analyzed with hundreds to thousands of rRNA (gene)-targeted probes simultaneously, lending itself to the efficient diagnosis of many target organisms in many samples. An emerging application of phylochips is the highly parallel analysis of structure–function relationships of microbial community members by employing in vivo substrate-mediated isotope labeling of rRNA (via the isotope array approach). This chapter provides an introduction to phylochip and isotope array analysis and detailed wet-lab protocols for preparation, labeling, and hybridization of target nucleic acids.