Description

We detect and quantify phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) that are used for the ecological profiling of soil samples.

We conduct:

• Soil PLFA extraction and derivatization,
• GC-MS/FID analysis,
• Reporting of soil microbial community profiles (Soil Microbial Ecology Report). Click here to see an example of one of our “Soil Microbial Ecology” reports.

Our list of fatty acids that can be detected and quantified comprises:

1. Unsaturated (mono and poly) fatty acids
2. Branched Fatty acids (iso, anteiso, and mid-chain)
3. Cyclic fatty acids.
4. Saturated Fatty acids (C2-C36)

Microbial community groups for which we have PLFA biomarkers include (the list of mentioned PLFA biomarkers is continuously growing):

1. Bacteria: 15 PLFA biomarkers, distributed accross bacterial subgroups
   1. Gram-positive: 7 PLFA biomarkers.
   2. Gram-negative: 4 PLFA biomarkers.
   3. Actinomycetes: 3 PLFA biomarkers.
   4. Nitrite-Oxidizing bacteria (NOB): 1 PLFA biomarker.
2. Fungi: 3 biomarkers
   1. Saprophytic Fungi: 2 biomarkers
   2. Arbascular Mycorhizal Fungi (AMF): 1 biomarker

We also calculate the following Diversity Indices, Ecological Ratios and Physiological (Stress) Indicators based on PLFA:

1. Bacterial stress indicator (cyclic fatty acids-to-their precursors ratio)
2. Gram-Positive to Gram-Negative ratio
3. Fungi to bacteria ratio
4. Arbuscular to Saprophytic fungi ratio
5. Saturated to unsaturated PLFA ratio.
6. Mono to polyunsaturated PLFA ratio
7. Shannon-Weaver Diversity index (H’)
8. Pielou’s Evenness Index (J’)