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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 1999, p. 3398-3400, Vol. 65, No. 8
Department of Plant Pathology, University of
California, Riverside, California 92521
Received 5 February 1999/Accepted 17 May 1999
A new approach that permits culture-independent identification of
microorganisms that respond to specified stimuli was developed. This
approach was illustrated by examination of microorganisms that grew in
response to various nutrient supplements added to soil. A thymidine
nucleotide analog, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), and supplements were added
to soil and incubated for 3 days. DNA was extracted from the soil, and
the newly synthesized DNA was isolated by immunocapture of the
BrdU-labeled DNA. The unique perspective this approach offers was
demonstrated by comparing the microbial community structures obtained
from total soil DNA and the BrdU-labeled fraction in an rRNA gene
(rDNA) analysis. The traditional total DNA analysis revealed no notable
differences between the treatments, whereas the BrdU-labeled DNA showed
significantly different banding patterns between the nutrient
supplement treatments and compared with total DNA banding patterns. PCR
primers were developed to specifically amplify the intergenic region of
an rDNA sequence unique to the BrdU analysis of a phosphate supplement treatment. Amplification of DNA from all treatments using these primers
showed that it was unique to the phosphate treatment and that it was
present in both the total DNA and BrdU-labeled DNA fractions. This
result demonstrates the promise of this new strategy, because it was
able to permit identification of a sequence from a phosphate-responsive
organism that was not discernable in the traditional total DNA
community structure analysis.
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Culture-Independent Identification of
Microorganisms That Respond to Specified Stimuli
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Mailing address: Department of Plant Pathology,
University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Phone: 909-787-3584. Fax: 909-787-3782. E-mail: borneman{at}ucrac1.ucr.edu.
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