Figure 1.
Broad-range PCR amplification and sequencing of microbial 16S rRNA genes. Genomic DNA extracted from a microbial community is used as a template for 16S rRNA PCR with “universal” primers specific for Archaea and Bacteria. The PCR products, which are about 1.5 kb in length, are cloned into a standard vector and both ends are sequenced. The aligned sequences are first clustered into groups, and the representatives from each cluster are compared with 16S rRNA gene databases for phylogenetic classification.
