The application of polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) method in microbial screening

Abstract

A rapid microbial screening method was developed based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). To evaluate the repeatability and reliability of this system, three DGGE markers were used. Then, the feasibility of DGGE method was verified by microbial screenings in viili (a traditional fermented dairy product originated from Scandinavia) and sourdoughs. The results suggested that, this method could efficiently classify the duplicate strains isolated from the complex environment and identify their dominance in microbial ecology if the corresponding environment samples had been provided. This paper proposed the application of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-DGGE method in reducing the complicated work in microorganism identifications or even directly identified the target strains if a proper DGGE marker had been applied.

Key words: Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), microbial screening, bacteria, fungi, Lactobacillus, bifidobacteria, sourdoughs, viili.