Phenotype MicroArray analysis of cells: fulfilling the promise

Phenotype MicroArray (PM) technology allows researchers to rapidly test thousands of phenotypes in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell lines during a single experiment, using nearly 200 carbon (C), 400 nitrogen (N), 100 phosphorous (P) and sulfur (S) sources and 100 nutrient supplements. In addition, PM technology evaluates the cell response to 240 toxic compounds (each one at four increasing concentrations) and to a range of variable pH and osmolyte concentrations. Given the provided broad and systematic investigation of cell physiology, PM is a complementary approach to genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics. The integrated application of PM technology with molecular methods widens the fields of investigation and makes possible an effective leverage between phenomics and genomics, along with key insights into physiology at the cellular level. Presently, PM technology has been applied to a wide range of cells including bacterial, fungal and mammalian cells, and enables metabolic analysis in the context of genotype–phenotype correlation studies. Bochner and collaborators, in their paper entitled “Phenotype Microarrays for high-throughput phenotypic testing and assay of gene function”, first proposed integration of phenomics, genomics and transcriptomics [1]. Since then, as highlighted by Bochner in his opening lecture of the “3rd Florence Conference on Phenotype MicroArray Analysis of Cells”, PM has been employed in different research foci: i) analyzing cells with mutations to determine the metabolic and physiologic effects of genetic differences, ii) studying cell metabolism and defining metabolic regulation, iii) assessing the existing interplay between the environment and hormonal signals and its effect on cell metabolism and physiology, iv) optimizing cell culture conditions in bioprocess development, and v) examining the effects of drugs and other chemicals on cellular pathways. Recently, PM applications have focused on the analysis of microbiomes and human cell-microbial cell interactions.