THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDENTIFICATION TEST KIT FOR ENVIRON- MENTAL BACTERIA THAT ANALYZES THEIR DEGRATIVE CAPABILITIES

A UNIQUE, PATENTED TECHNOLOGY CAN BE EMPLOYED TO IDENTIFY MICROBIAL ISOLATES BY EXAMINING THEIR ABILITY OR INABILITY TO METABOLIZE A LARGE AND DIVERSE SET OF ORGANIC CHEMICALS. THE TESTING IS PERFORMED IN STANDARD MICROTITER TRAYS, SO THAT 95 CATABOLIC TESTS CAN BE PERFORMED IN PARALLEL, AND THE RESULTS CAN BE READ WITH A MICROTITER TRAY READER DIRECTLY INTO A COMPUTER. AN IDENTIFICATION OR CLASSIFICATION IS GENERATED BY COMPUTERIZED MATCHING OF THE METABOLIC TRAITS OF THE ISOLATE TO A LARGE DATABASE OF PATTERNS. THE PHASE I STUDY WILL INVOLVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NUTRIENT SUSPENSION MEDIUM SUITABLE FOR USE WITH MOST, IF NOT ALL, HETEROTROPHIC AEROBIC BACTERIAL SPECIES. TESTS WILL BE RUN WITH 380 SUBSTRATES AND A REPRESENTATIVE SET OF 30 STRAINS TO VALIDATE THE CHEMISTRY AND TO SHOW THE FEASIBILITY OF FINDING NEW SUBSTRATES CAPABLE OF DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN BOTH DISTANTLY AND CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES. IN PHASE II THE 380 SUBSTRATES WILL BE TESTED AGAINST A COLLECTION OF APPROXIMATELY 3000 STRAINS TO BUILD UP A DATABASE OF PATTERNS FOR THE COMPUTER TO SEARCH. THESE 3000 STRAINS WILL COVER 445 SPECIES OF NONCLINICAL AEROBIC BACTERIA. WHEN THIS DATABASE IS COMBINED WITH A DATABASE OF 335 CLINICAL SPECIES, THE COMBINED DATABASE WILL COVER EVERY HETEROTROPHIC, AEROBIC SPECIES NAMED IN THE LATEST EDITION OF BERGEY'S MANUAL: 780 SPECIES IN ALL. A COMPUTER ALGORITHM WILL SELECT THE BEST SET OF 95 TESTS FOR A FINAL KIT CONFIGURATION. ONCE THE TECHNOLOGY IS DEVELOPED IT WILL BE BOTH GENERAL AND ADAPTABLE. SPECIALIZED CUSTOM KITS CAN BE PRODUCED TO MEET THE PARTICULAR NEEDS OF DOE'S MICROBIOLOGY PROGRAM.