Bias problems in culture-independent analysis of environmental bacterial communities: a representative study on hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Culture-dependent methods for bacterial community analysis are currently considered obsolete; therefore, molecular techniques are usually used instead. The results of the current study on hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria in various oily habitats in Kuwait showed however, that the bacterial identities varied dramatically according to the analytical approach used. For six desert and six seawater samples used in this study, the culture-independent and culture-dependent techniques each led to a unique bacterial composition. Problems related to the culture-dependent technique are well known. The results of the current study highlighted bias problems other than those already recorded in the literature for the molecular approaches. Thus, for example, in contrast to the culture-dependent technique, th

SUBMITTER: Al-Awadhi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3769543 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature