Table I.
Pros and cons of culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches for exploring bacterial diversity.
| Pros | Cons | |
|---|---|---|
| Culture-dependent approaches |
|
|
| Culture-independent approaches |
|
|
Fig. 1.
Systematic representation of 16S rRNA clone library construction and subsequent screening and sequencing clones.
Fig. 2.
Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis. The figure shows 16S rRNA gene amplification from community DNA followed by gel electrophoresis. Wells A to D contain amplified products from individual bacterial species, well E contains a mixture of amplified products from A to D, well F contains amplified product from the soil community. The conventional agarose gel electrophoresis results in a single non-descriptive band but separation on denaturing acrylamide gels results in multiple bands, each representing the dominant member of the community.
Fig. 3.
Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism. The capillary electrophoresis system of an automated DNA sequencer to separate the digested product is used to obtain T-RFs shown as an electropherogram.