COLLABORATIVE UNITS:
Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University
Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology &
Department of Civil and
Structural Engineering Department, Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
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COORDINATOR:
Professor Samuel SM Sun, Department of Biology, CUHK |
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PURPOSE:
To provide state-of-the-art instrumentation for microbial
identification which is fast, simple and highly reproducible.
This system consists of two components: 1) a Midi Sherlock
Microbial Identification System, a gas chromatographic system
for the analysis of microbial fatty acid profiles which are
compared with fatty acid profile databases for bacteria (aerobes
and anaerobes), yeasts, fungi and actinomycetes. The machine
is fully automatic and can be operated by a technician with
training in Microbiology and GC-FID; and 2) a Qualicon RiboPrintera
Microbial Characterization System which performs genetic "finger-printing"
of the rRNA genes of targeted microorganisms. These two components
complement each other for the identification of microorganisms
isolated from samples for research projects in biological,
food and environmental sciences. The identification of the
isolated microorganisms would facilitate the progress since
most of the morphological, physiological and biochemical characterization
of the microorganisms could be obtained from the well-document
reports of previous studies or handbooks for microbiology.
In addition, since the two components of the proposed system
apply different methodologies for the identification of the
interested microorganisms, they will be used in a cross-checking
manner to ensure the accuracy of the identification.
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| THE
SYSTEM: |
| 1.
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A
Midi Sherlock Microbial Identification System, (Fig 1) a gas
chromatographic system to identify microorganisms by analysing
their whole cell fatty acid profiles, and
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2.
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A
Qualicon RiboPrintera Microbial Characterization System (Fig
2), a genetic "finger-printing" of the rRNA genes
to identify microorganisms according to their unique pattern
of rRNA genes after restriction enzyme digestion. |
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Figure
1 |
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Figure
2 |
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| THE
PROJECTS THAT WOULD BENEFIT: |
| 1.
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Identification
and characterization of large number of microorganisms in environmental
or food samples, |
| 2. |
Screening
for microorganisms for biotechnological (eg bioremediation)
processes and, |
| 3. |
Development
of databases of microbial flora in unique ecosystems. |
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| CHARGING
SCHEME: (Effective from 1 August 2000) |
| 1.
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Qualicon
RiboPrintera |
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| 1.1 |
Reagents (HK$ 600/strain*, minimum one package for 8 strains)
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HK$
4,800 |
| 1.2
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Technical
service charge (minimum 8 strains per batch, HK$ 400 for 2 hr)
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HK$
400 |
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ie
HK$ 650 for 1 strain (for a batch of 8 strains) |
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| 2.
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Midi
Microbial Identification System |
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| 2.1 |
Reagents (HK$ 200/strain) |
HK$
200 |
| 2.2 |
Technical service charge
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2.2.1
Extraction of fatty acid from microbial culture
____(minimum 8 strains per batch,
HK$ 800 for 4 hr.)
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HK$
800 |
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2.2.2
GC analysis (HK$ 100 for 1/2 h, for 1 strain) |
HK$
100 |
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ie
HK$ 400 for 1 strain (for a batch of 8 strains)
*1 sample = 1 microbial strain
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Marine
Science Laboratory