Trends in bacterial and fungal communities in ant nests observed with Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques-validity and compatibility in ecological studies.

ABSTRACT: Microbes are ubiquitous and often occur in functionally and taxonomically complex communities. Unveiling these community dynamics is one of the main challenges of microbial research. Combining a robust, cost effective and widely used method such as Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) with a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) method (Illumina MiSeq), offers a solid alternative for comprehensive assessment of microbial communities. Here, these two methods were combined in a study of complex bacterial and fungal communities in the nest mounds of the ant Formica exsecta, with the aim to assess the degree to which these methods can be used to complement each other. The results show that these methodologies capture similar spatiotemporal variations, as well as corresp

SUBMITTER: Lindstrom S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6055595 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature