Overestimation of the abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria in human feces by quantitative PCR targeting the Desulfovibrio 16S rRNA gene

C T Christophersen; M Morrison; M A Conlon

doi:10.1128/AEM.02851-10

Overestimation of the abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria in human feces by quantitative PCR targeting the Desulfovibrio 16S rRNA gene

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2011 May;77(10):3544-6. doi: 10.1128/AEM.02851-10. Epub 2011 Apr 1.

Authors

C T Christophersen¹, M Morrison, M A Conlon

Affiliation

¹ CSIRO Food and Nutritional Sciences, Gate 13, Kintore Avenue, Adelaide 5000, South Australia, Australia. c.christophersen@csiro.au

Abstract

The dominant genus of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in humans is Desulfovibrio, and quantitative PCR (QPCR) targeting the 16S rRNA gene is often used in assays. We show that the 16S rRNA gene assay overestimated SRB abundance in feces from 24 adults compared to QPCR assays using primers targeting two genes involved in SRB energy metabolism.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

Bacterial Load / methods*
Desulfovibrio / genetics
Desulfovibrio / isolation & purification*
Desulfovibrio / metabolism
Feces / microbiology*
Genes, rRNA
Humans
Oxidation-Reduction
Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods*
RNA, Bacterial / genetics
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
Sulfates / metabolism*

Substances

RNA, Bacterial
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Sulfates