Does anyone have experience with using the EcoPlates from Biolog to run 3 different samples instead of three replicates of 1 sample? I want to use the data to characterize the niche space and structure in microbial communities and need to calculate how many plates I need for my experiment.
Hi Madeleine,
It's possible, but it does make it more challenging to provide confidence values for your output data. Since the input volume is small, variation is more challenging to account for. If you know that your sample variation is small, it could be done, but I've never had any samples that straightforward -_-"
Good luck!
JP
Hi Jason Byron Perez and thank you for your reply,
When you run replicas on the BIOLOG plates do you experience a lot of variation within one sample? For example, would some carbon sources not be used in one of the replicas, while giving positive results in the two other replicas?
Looking forward to your answer. Best, Madeleine
Hi Madeleine Gundersen
Once in a while I experienced, something like that, or two negatives and a low positive. If you can make an assumption of complete homogeneity within your sample, that would also support using a single replicate. For reporting though, I would still err on the side of caution. And yes, I also have gone through many EcoPlates :/
You may have come across this already, but Table 4.4 in this thesis might give you an idea of within-plate variation in actual numbers: https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses%3A660 (I haven't read the whole document, but there may be more there to help, hopefully).
Cheers,
JP
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Agricultural Science
- Agronomy
- Crop Science