All gels were normalized using a reference

sample with Poziotinib ic50 bands distributed throughout the whole gel. Analysis of DGGE Selleck AZD3965 profile Gel images were aligned using Adobe Photoshop CS5 by running common samples on both outer sides of each gel, to allow comparison of two gels in one profile. DGGE profiles were analysed using Quantity One software (version 4.6; Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA). The lanes were identified, and their background intensities were removed using the rolling disk method described in the program. Then bands were detected automatically by the software, followed by manual correction if necessary, and they were matched at 0.5% tolerance level. The tolerance level is the minimum

spacing that the matching model expects to find between unique bands, and it is expressed as a percentage of lane height. The relative quantity of bands is expressed as a proportion (%) relative to the sum of the intensities of all of the bands in the same lane. A similarity matrix was computed by comparing the profiles of lanes, and the percentage similarity was expressed as the Dice coefficient. The presence or absence of a band in a lane was considered. Identical profiles have a percentage similarity of 100. Unweighted Selleck BVD-523 pair group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) was used to compare the similarity of samples in a dendrogram. The general diversity of bacterial communities was calculated by generating Shannon’s index of diversity on quantitative information [41]. Sequencing of DGGE bands Bands of interest from DGGE gels were excised and immersed in 20 μl of sterile water and left overnight at 4°C. 2 μl of eluted DNA from each band was used as template for PCR re-amplification with the forward primer (without GC clamp) (357f 5′- ATTACCGCGGCTGCTGG -3′) and the reverse primer (518r 5′-CCTACGGGAGGCAGCAG-3′). PCR was performed in a 50 μl reaction mixture including 2 μl of template DNA, 5 μl of 10×PCR buffer, 1 μl of dNTP mixture (2.5 mM each), 1 μl of each primer (10 pM), 0.5 μl of Taq-Polymerase (5 Phosphoprotein phosphatase U/μl) and 39.5 μl sterile water. Amplification was performed under the

following conditions: 94°C for 5 min, 20 cycles of 94°C for 30s, 65°C for 30s decreased by 0.5°C for each cycle, and 68°C for 30 s, additional 15 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 55°C for 30 s, and 68°C for 30 s, with a final extension at 68°C for 7 min. After the PCR products were purified (QIAquick PCR Purification Kit, QIAGEN) and quantified (Qubit fluorometer, Invitrogen), the sequence analysis of the products was carried out using the Sanger’s method on an ABI 3730 automated sequencing system. The sequences obtained were then aligned with NCBI GenBank databases using the BLAST tool. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using the MEGA 4.0 program in the method of neighbor-joining based on evolutionary distances.