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MOLECULAR-BASED APPROACHES TO SOIL MICROBIOLOGY

DNA Sequencing: Strategies for Soil Microbiology

Weber State Univ., 2506 University Cir., Ogden, UT 84408

^* Corresponding author (mzwolinski{at}weber.edu).

Sequencing of DNA is a powerful tool for gathering information about organisms and their environments. The 16S rRNA gene has been the preferred gene target for describing soil microbial diversity and for establishing phylogenetic relationships between unknown and uncultivated microorganisms. As sequencing technologies improve and computing power increases, however, longer and more accurate sequence data is becoming available. It is now possible to generate complete genome sequences for individual organisms and even to collect whole-environment genome, or metagenomic, sequence information. The genomes of isolated soil microorganisms have been used to describe the physiology, ecology, and evolution and have lead to important discoveries in medicine and industry. Soil metagenomic libraries contain too much information to sequence completely at this time, but can be mined for novel, and potentially useful, microbial processes and can be used to compare genetic diversity between habitats.

Abbreviations: bp, base pairs • ORFs, open-reading frames • PCR, polymerase chain reaction • rRNA, ribosomal ribonucleic acid