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Environmental Monitoring of Bacteria pp 97–107Cite as

DNA Extraction from Natural Environments

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Part of the book series: Methods in Biotechnology ((MIBT,volume 12))

Abstract

Until recently, studies on microbial communities present in natural environments relied on conventional optical microscopic observation and cultivation-based approaches. Although these traditional approaches remain valuable, they have a number of limitations. The most commonly cited limitation stems from the finding that the majority of microbial cells in natural environments cannot be cultured in the laboratory—the phenomenon of nonculturability. The fraction of bacteria in soil, e.g., which can be cultured forms only approx 0.3% of the total number of cells that are observed microscopically (1). By contrast, newer methods based on the use of molecular biology methods to analyze total extracted DNA from natural specimens, potentially sample the entire population and, thus, provide a better representative picture of the total microbial community.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Donnan Laboratories, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Kenneth D. Bruce, Peter Strike & Donald A. Ritchie

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  1. Kenneth D. Bruce
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  2. Peter Strike
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  3. Donald A. Ritchie
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  1. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Liverpool, UK

    Clive Edwards

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© 1999 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Bruce, K.D., Strike, P., Ritchie, D.A. (1999). DNA Extraction from Natural Environments. In: Edwards, C. (eds) Environmental Monitoring of Bacteria. Methods in Biotechnology, vol 12. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-566-2:97

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-566-2:97

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-566-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-487-0

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