title: Hollow-fiber membrane chamber as a device for in situ environmental cultivation.
abstract: A hollow-fiber membrane chamber (HFMC) was developed as an in situ cultivation device for environmental microorganisms. The HFMC system consists of 48 to 96 pieces of porous hollow-fiber membrane connected with injectors. The system allows rapid exchange of chemical compounds, thereby simulating a natural environment. Comparative analysis through the cultivation of three types of environmental samples was performed using this newly designed device and a conventional agar-based petri dish. The results show that the ratios of novel phylotypes in isolates, species-level diversities, and cultivabilities in HFMC-based cultivation are higher than those in an agar-based petri dish for all three samples, suggesting that the new in situ cultivation device is effective for cultivation of various environmental microorganisms.
authors.affiliation: Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan. yoshiteruaoi@aoni.waseda.jp
authors.forename: Yoshiteru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoi
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: Haruko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Obokata
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuneda