(Weig et al., 2013)

ARISA - Automated method for Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis

Ribosomal RNAs are encoded in procaryotes and eucaryotes by highy conserved genes arranged in operons/repeat units in the genomic DNA. The rRNA subunit encoding genes are separated by internal transcripbed spacers (ITS) characterized by high sequence variability and length.

The ITS length polymorphism has been used to developed an ARISA method for the compositional analysis of bacterial communities (Fisher and Triplett, 1999) and has been subsequently applied also to eucaryotic microbial communities (Ranjard et al., 2001).

The original ARISA method has been recently modified for improved applicability in fungal microbiology (Weig et al., 2013). Our current protocol represents a fast and cost-effective way to characterize fungal communities in space and time at considerable high resolution. 

The ARISA method is particularly useful for environmental screening and monitoring projects and standardized experimental conditions permit the cumulative gathering of data, for instance during long-term projects. 

Recommended literature

• Okubo A, Sugiyama S (2009) Comparison of molecular fingerprinting methods for analysis of soil microbial community structure. Ecol Res 24(6): 1399–1405. doi: 10.1007/s11284-009-0602-9
• Weig AR, Peršoh D, Werner S, Betzlbacher A, Rambold G (2013) Diagnostic assessment of mycodiversity in environmental samples by fungal ITS1 rDNA length polymorphism. Mycol Progress. doi: 10.1007/s11557-012-0883-1