What is a Phenotype MicroArray™ (PM) analysis?
PM experiments test cellular phenotypes. Included in the tests are assays of basic cellular nutritional pathways for C, N, P, and S metabolism, osmotic and pH and sensitivity, and sensitivity to chemical agents. The most common application is to assess the phenotypic effects of mutations. A change in genotype of a cell should lead to one or more changes in phenotype. PMs allow testing of knock-out or knock-in mutants to help discern the biological changes that occur consequent to genetic changes. Another common application is phenotypic characterization of a collection of related strains. For example, it is possible determine the phenotypic relatedness of a collection of isolates of a given species. PM analysis has been successfully implemented for a wide variety of model microbial cells including Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida, Sinorhizobium meliloti, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Shewanella oneidensis,
