Fluorescence in situ hybridisation for the identification and characterisation of prokaryotes

Fluorescence in situ hybridisation with rRNA-targeted nucleic acid probes can be used to directly identify microorganisms within complex samples in a few hours and therefore has widespread application in environmental and medical microbiology. The past year has seen significant methodological improvements in fluorescence in situ hybridisation, as well as in the combination of this method with other techniques for inferring functional traits of microorganisms within their environment.