Focus on microbial phenotyping

The OmniLog robot is an automated incubator containing a camera. It is capable of performing high throughput colorimetric screening of 50*96-well plates in parallel, equivalent to 4800 simultaneous experiments. By measuring the plates every 15 minutes, it can provide kinetic data on the metabolic activity of microorganisms over several days. Combined with the "Biolog" microplates (phenotyping chips), is a powerful tool for the identification of microorganisms and the characterization of their metabolic activity under various environmental conditions: different carbon and nitrogen sources, stress resistance (pH, osmolarity, temperature), antibiotic resistance.

Operation

The operation of the platform consists of kinetic measurements of 96-well microtitre plates for all types of microorganisms with the Omnilog robot. Examples of possible analyses :

•     Identification of microorganisms
•     Metabolic characterization of microorganisms
•     Sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics
•     Identification of gene function (knock-out mutants vs. wild type; comparison of different strains)
•     Optimization of bio-procedures...

Details on how the platform works

•     A single incubation temperature is set per week, the maximum duration of an experiment being 6 days.
•     The temperature range is between 20 and 45 °C.
•     First day of analysis: Tuesday afternoon: arrival of inoculated plates before 16:00.
•     Destruction of the microtitre plates: responsibility of the user at the end of the experiment.
•     Data: to be recovered on the PC on a USB key

Biolog rack :

Expertise on the use of Biolog plates is not part of the platform's competences. The platform only provides the means of measurement. Please note that the protocol for using this technology may vary depending on the micro-organism. It is recommended to contact the experts of Biolog (represented by Awel in France).

TPMP-Omnilog customers have conducted experiments with :

•     Ralstonia solanacearum, beta-proteo bacterium, plant pathogenic agent
•     Shinorhizobium melilotii, alpha-proteo bacterium, plant symbiote
•     Cupriavidus taiwanensis, beta-protein bacterium, plant symbiote
•     Streptomyces spp, Actinobacteria
•     Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, ascomycete, plant pathogen
•     Pseudomonas aeruginosa, gamma-proteo bacterium, opportunistic and pathogenic to humans
•     Oomycetes