Use of temperature gradient gel electrophoresis for the investigation of poly(vinyl alcohol) biodegradation

Abstract

The application of temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) as a culture-independent method to monitor changes in the composition of bacterial community during PVA degradation under denitrification conditions is reported. TGGE was used to separate DNA fragments after PCR amplification from total DNA extracted from the acclimated denitrifying sludge with universal bacterial primers targeted the region of the 16S rRNA gene. TGGE proved to be useful and enable to visualize potential degraders and their time dynamics during the biodegradation experiment.