Lin Li^1,2,3 , Yanjie Zhu² , Songyan Tian^2,3 , Qian Du^2,3 , Shenkui Liu⁴

1 Alkali Soil Natural Environmental Science Center (ASNESC), Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, PR China
2 Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Forestry Ecological Engineering in Heilongjiang Province, Heilongjiang Forestry Engineering and Environment Institute, Harbin 150081, PR China
3 Mudanjiang Forest Ecosystem Research Station, Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang, 157500, PR China
4 State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin’an, Hangzhou, 311300, PR China
Author    Correspondence author
Molecular Soil Biology, 2019, Vol. 10, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/msb.2019.10.0001
Received: 05 Aug., 2019    Accepted: 20 Aug., 2019    Published: 30 Aug., 2019

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Li L., Zhu Y.J., Liang S.Y., Tian S.Y., Du Q., and Liu S.K., 2019, A statistics and analyses system of microbial community level physiological profiles (CLPP) based on Excel, Molecular Soil Biology, 10(1): 1-5 (doi:10.5376/msb.2019.10.0001)

Microbial community level physiological profiles (CLPP) assessed using Biolog MicroPlates has effectively demonstrated the metabolic activities of multiple microbes. Due to a large volume of data, and complicated calculation process, the conventional low efficiency calculations delay the study. To empower researchers to quickly tabulate, compute, analyze and present data, we introduced A Biolog EcoPlate data statistics and analyses system (A-BEP-DSAS). It is implemented with Biolog EcoPlate data tested by an ELISA microplate reader (Molecular Devices Versamax). The data input-output process and visual calculation flow are performed using Excel table linked with built-in VBA programming language. We tested A-BEP-DSAS by data from a soil sample, and rapidly and accurately obtained the average well color development (AWCD) data, carbon source utilization, six common diversity indices and other calculation results. A-BEP-DSAS is an automated program based on Microsoft Excel VBA, with the advantages of easy operation, rapid analysis, process visualization, and also allows the user to choose the data source and optimum time for analysis.

Biolog EcoPlate data analyses; Excel VBA; Microbial community level physiological profiles; Microbial diversity index; Carbon source utilization