Genomics 2008, 91:530–537.CrossRefPubMed 88. Sorokin DY, Bosch PL, Abbas B, Janssen AJ, Muyzer G: Microbiological analysis of the population of extremely haloalkaliphilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria dominating in lab-scale sulfide-removing bioreactors. Appl Microbiol

Biotechnol 2008, 80:965–975.CrossRefPubMed Authors’ contributions MRP was responsible for conception of the study, experimental design, data collection, and analysis and preparation of the learn more manuscript. JTP and CCA participated in experimental design, data analysis and preparation of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Background Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi form a mutualistic symbiosis with

tree roots and play key roles in forest ecosystems. In return for receiving nutrients and water from the soil selleck products via the roots, they receive carbohydrates as photosynthate from their host plants [1]. As is the case for other soil fungal species, the composition of the ECM community is affected by both biotic and abiotic factors; these include climate changes, seasons, soil micro-site heterogeneity, soil and litter quality, host tree species and forest management [2–6]. To describe in more detail the impact of environmental factors on community composition, long-term, year-round monitoring and a detailed spatial description of the community has to be carried out. However, analyses are very often hindered by a limited sample number and by the ephemeral or cryptic lifestyle of the fungi [7, 8]. Over the last fifteen years, PCR-based molecular methods and DNA sequencing of nuclear and mitochondrial ribosomal DNA have been used routinely to identify mycorrhizal fungi [9]. However, these methods are time-consuming and are limited in the number of samples that can be treated in a realistic time frame [10]. With automated molecular genotyping techniques, Selleckchem BIX 1294 appropriate DNA databases [11] and a better knowledge of ITS variability within

fungal species [12], identification Resveratrol of fungal taxa in environmental samples can now be expanded from the aforementioned methods to high-throughput molecular diagnostic tools, such as phylochips [13]. So far, DNA arrays have been mainly used for genome-wide transcription profiling [14, 15], but also for the identification of bacterial species from complex environmental samples [16] or for the identification of a few genera of pathogenic fungi and Oomycetes [17, 18]. Phylochips may comprise up to several thousand probes that target phylogenetic marker genes, such as 16S rRNA in bacteria or the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region in fungi [19]; indeed, the latter is one of the most widely used barcoding regions for fungi [20].