The Alimetrics microbial analysis portfolio covers all conventional techniques such as bacterial colony counts on agar plates, most-probable-number (MPN) techniques, and direct counting under microscope. However, such conventional techniques are the methods of choice only when they are essential for a specific task or requested by clients or authorities.

Our scientists were the pioneers in applying DNA-based techniques to gastrointestinal microbiology 20 years ago. During the recent revolution of molecular microbiology, we have critically evaluated practically all published techniques and, most importantly, developed our own unique approaches. It is clearly impossible to claim unambiguously that a particular DNA-based method is the best, as specific needs for microbial analysis vary and the method used has to be selected according to the immediate targets of the investigation.

For any DNA-based method, it is important that the sample subjected to analysis represents the entire bacterial diversity and maintains the relative abundance between microbes present in the original sample. Our philosophy regarding the isolation of DNA that truly represents the microbiota of the sample is described in more detail below. The large number of available methods for analysing the isolated DNA is sometimes confusing for the layman and, indeed, selection of method is of the utmost importance for the outcome of the research. In the sections below we introduce some methods commonly used at Alimetrics, and the applications for which they are best suited.