Method for forming microcultures within porous media
Highly porous, beads are comprised of a polymer and a second compound mixed into it. The second compound, an amendment, is either a nutrient or a compound having high affinity to one or more nutrients. A plurality of these beads may be exposed to an aqueous environment, usually a body of water. Bacteria and other microorganisms rapidly enter and remain within the nutrient filled interior space of the beads. Any of a number of various detection methods may then be used to characterize, detect and/or identify the microorganisms.
1. A method to produce and use a microculture or biofilm to detect and identify specific organisms, which method comprises:
preparing a plurality of beads by preheating to a sufficient temperature such that biomarkers are destroyed, said beads having at least one polymer and at least one amendment incorporated therein;
exposing said beads to an aqueous environment of a body of water having at least one microorganism;
allowing sufficient time for said at least one microorganism to enter into said plurality of beads; and
performing at least one assay on said plurality of beads in order to characterize and identify said at least one microorganism.
2. A method to produce and use a microculture or biofilm to detect and identify specific microorganisms as set forth in claim 1 wherein said at least one assay is chosen from the group consisting phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, respiratory quinone analysis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the 16 S rDNA gene followed by separation and sequencing and realtime PCR.
3. A method to produce and use a microculture or biofilm as set forth in claim 1 including attaching at least one nutrient to said amendment.
4. A method to produce and use a microculture or biofilm as set forth in claim 3 including selecting said at least one nutrient from the group consisting of hydrocarbons, halogenated hydrocarbons, methyl-t-butyl ether and t-butyl alcohol.
5. A method to produce and use a microculture or biofilm as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said beads has a void volume which is at least about 40% of total bead volume.
6. A method to produce and use a microculture or biofilm as set forth in claim 1 including performing solvent extraction of biopolymers, and molecular analysis of biopolymers.