In the attempt to explore complex bacterial communities of environmental samples, primers hybridizing to phylogenetically highly conserved regions of 16S rRNA genes are widely used, but differential amplification is a recognized problem. The biases associated with preferential amplification of multitemplate PCR were investigated using 'universal' bacteria-specific primers, focusing on the effect of primer mismatch, annealing temperature and PCR cycle number. The distortion of the template-to-product ratio was measured using predefined template mixtures and environmental samples by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. When a 1 : 1 genomic DNA template mixture of two strains was used, primer mismatches inherent in the 63F primer presented a serious bias, showing preferential amplification of the template containing the perfectly matching sequence. The extent of the preferential amplification showed an almost exponential relation with increasing annealing temperature from 47 to 61 degrees C. No negative effect of the various annealing temperatures was observed with the 27F primer, with no mismatches with the target sequences. The number of PCR cycles had little influence on the template-to-product ratios. As a result of additional tests on environmental samples, the use of a low annealing temperature is recommended in order to significantly reduce preferential amplification while maintaining the specificity of PCR.

DNA from environmental PCR products separated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was isolated from the background smear rather than from discrete bands of the DGGE gel. The "interband" region was considered as a potential source of less dominant members of natural microbial communities. Surprisingly, instead of detecting new bands from the re-amplified PCR products, patterns very similar to the original ones were obtained regardless of the position of the "interband" region. The results suggest that the separation of amplicons by DGGE may not be perfect and band re-amplification based sequence analyses need careful interpretation.

Aims:  Catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase is a key enzyme in the degradation of monoaromatic pollutants. The detection of this gene is in focus today but recently designed degenerate primers are not always suitable. Rhodococcus species are important members of the bacterial community involved in the degradation of aromatic contaminants and their specific detection could help assess functions and activities in the contaminated environments. To reach this aim, specific PCR primer sets were designed for the detection of Rhodococcus related catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase genes. Methods and Results:  Primers were tested with genetically well‐characterized strains isolated in this study and community DNA samples were used as template for Rhodococcus specific PCR as well. The sequences of the catabolic gene in question were subjected to multiple alignment and a phylogenetic tree was created and compared to a 16S rRNA gene based Rhodococcus tree. A strong coherence was observed between the phylogenetic trees. Conclusions:  The results strongly support the opinion that there was no recent lateral gene transfer among Rhodococcus species in the case of catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase. Significance and Impact of the Study:  In gasoline contaminated environments, aromatic hydrocarbon degrading Rhodococcus populations can be identified based upon the detection and sequence analysis of catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase gene.

Each step of a molecular environmental microbiology study is prone to errors, though the qualitative and quantitative biases of PCR amplification could result in the most serious biases. One has to be aware of this fact, and well-characterized PCR biases have to be avoided by using target-optimized PCR protocols. The most important tasks are primer and thermal profile optimization. We have shown that primer mismatches, even in the case of universal primers, can cause almost complete missing of common taxa from clone libraries, for example. Similarly high annealing temperatures can drastically distort community composition of the sample in the PCR product. Strategies of primer selection and PCR thermal profile design are discussed in detail.

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