IT>I am looking into methods for identifying (or at least differentiating)
IT>bacterial isolates from soil and sea-water samples. One such method
IT>recommended to me is the "Biolog" System.
IT>Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with this system?
IT>Are there any other similar systems which I should consider?
IT>Eventually, I'll be needing to isolate and differentiate approx. 3000
IT>different strains.
IT>Thanks
IT>Tom Lewis
There are two other commonly used systems:
Vitek - a biochemical analysis scheme that has been extensively
automated and is geared primarily at the clinical market.
MIDI - based on gas chromatography.
3000 bacteria are not that many to justify the purchase of a new system.
Do you have access to a clinical lab, or can you contract out the ID?
These systems run into the 10's of thousands. The biolog may be the
least expensive, but you really should also look at customer support and
validation of species identification. 3000 strains is a lot to worry
about if only approx. 1000 are actually on the product's database.
Scott Sutton
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