Application of phenotypic microarrays to environmental microbiology

► Phenotypic screening rapidly assesses a wide range of growth conditions. ► Growth assays can be adapted for anaerobic and extremophile growth conditions. ► Phenotypic arrays assess substrate utilization in environmental communities. ► Cluster heatmaps are effective in computing and visualizing PM data. ► Improved results are obtained through parametric curves rather than summary values.