Technical considerations for the use of 15N-DNA stable-isotope probing for functional microbial activity in soils |
| |
Authors: | Cadisch Georg Espana Mingrelia Causey Rachel Richter Michael Shaw Eve Morgan J Alun W Rahn Clive Bending Gary D |
| |
Institution: | Institute of Plant Production and Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics (380a), University of Hohenheim, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany. cadisch@uni-hohenheim.de |
| |
Abstract: | Stable-isotope DNA probing is a culture-independent technique that may provide a link between function and phylogeny of active microorganisms. The technique has been used in association with 13C substrates while here we evaluate feasibility and limitations of 15N-DNA stable-isotope probing (SIP) using labelled and unlabelled pure microbial cultures or soil extracts. Our results showed that (15)N-DNA probing is feasible for cultures as well as soil samples. Limitations of 15N-DNA-SIP are (a) the need for relatively large quantities of DNA to visualise bands (although molecular resolution is much higher) and (b) 15N-DNA enrichment needed to ideally be >50 at%; however, this requirement can be lowered to approx. 40 atom% 15N with pure cultures using a modified CsCl centrifugation method (140K g for 69 h). These advances in 15N-DNA-SIP methodology open new opportunities to trace active microbial populations utilising specific N substrates in situ. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |