Use of Stable Isotope Probing in Selectively Isolating Target Microbial Community Genomes from Environmental Samples for Enhancing Resolution in Ecotoxicological Assessment

In this study we attempted to develop a novel genomic method to selectively isolate target functional microbial genomes from environmental samples. For this purpose, stable isotope probing (SIP) was applied in selectively isolating organic pollutant-assimilating populations. When soil microbes were fed with $^{13}C-labeled $ biphenyl, biphenyl-utilizing cells were incorporated with the heavy carbon isotope. The heavy DNA portion was successfully separated by CsCl equilibrium density gradient. And the diversity in the heavy DNA was sufficiently reduced, being suitable for the current DNA microarray techniques to detect biphenyl-utilizing populations in the soil. In addition, we proposed a new way to get more genetic information by combining this SIP method with selective metagenomic approach. The increased selective power of these new DNA isolation methods will be expected to provide a good quality of new genetic information, which, in turn, will result in development of a variety of biomarkers that may be used in assessing ecotoxicology issues including the impacts of organic hazards, and antibiotic-resistant pathogens on human and ecological systems.