Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a widely used molecular technique in microbial ecology. However, the non-specific adsorption of fluorescent probes and resulting high intensity of background signals from mineral particles hampers the specific detection of microbial cells in grain-rich environmental samples, such as subseafloor sediments. We herein demonstrated that a new buffer composition containing EDTA efficiently reduced the adsorption of probes without compromising the properties of the FISH-based probing of microbes. The inclusion of a high concentration of EDTA in the buffer in our protocol provides a simple and effective approach for reducing the background in FISH for environmental samples.

中文翻译：

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EDTA-FISH：一种减少环境样品荧光原位杂交 (FISH)中探针非特异性吸附的简单有效方法

荧光原位杂交 (FISH) 是微生物生态学中广泛使用的分子技术。然而，荧光探针的非特异性吸附以及由此产生的来自矿物颗粒的高强度背景信号阻碍了对富含谷物的环境样品（例如海底沉积物）中微生物细胞的特异性检测。我们在此证明了含有 EDTA 的新缓冲液组合物有效地减少了探针的吸附，而不会影响基于 FISH 的微生物探测的特性。在我们的协议中在缓冲液中加入高浓度的 EDTA 提供了一种简单有效的方法来减少环境样品的 FISH 背景。