Applications of Axiom Microbiome Array in Food Safety

Bacterial classifications and phylogenetic studies have been largely improved by the targeted amplicon sequencing of the hypervariable regions within the 16s rRNA gene, which is represented in all bacteria. However, limiting the classification investigation to solely 16s sequencing often still leads to difficultly in discerning closely-related organisms down to the species level. To aid in the pursuit of accurately identifying bacterial species and serotypes (strains), Affymetrix (a part of Thermofisher Scientific^©) has recently created the Axiom® Microbiome Array as an effective assay to distinguish not only bacteria, but thousands of microorganisms at the species and even serotype level. The Microbiome Array is a highly developed micro-array technology which incorporates >130,000 unique probes in order to detect over 11,000 individual microorganisms - including bacterial, protozoal, viral, fugal, and archaeal species- whereas 16s sequencing is strictly limited to the detection of bacterial organisms within a given sample. While 16s sequencing still holds some advantages in the field of bacterial classification, Neogen Corporation, a provider of food and animal safety solutions, recognizes the many unique applications of the Microbiome Array. This extensive coverage array is a cost efficient microbial analysis that will allow Neogen to provide quality solutions for agricultural industries such as animal health, as well as soil and feed quality. The application of the Microbiome Array technology will also have a significant impact on the crucial business of food safety and the importance of accurate microbial detection in edible products.