Molecular Tools for Microbial Diversity Analysis

Abstract The biosphere is inhabited by various microbes with unique abilities to survive in many diversified habitats. These microbes can be utilized for production of many economically beneficial products and can be exploited for innumerable bioprocesses such as enzyme production, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and industrial processes. There are very limited data regarding many microbial communities in several ecosystems because of their limitation to be cultured and isolated. The traditional methods that try to represent microbial communities on the basis of nutritional and morphological characteristics lack information regarding evolutionary history and taxonomic order. The modern molecular tools for the analysis of microbial diversity can solve the shortcomings of traditional methods and can establish a phylogenetic lineage and determine their taxonomic order. This chapter focuses on various molecular tools such as 16S rDNA sequencing, restriction fragment length polymorphism, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis/temperature gradient gel electrophoresis, and DNA-DNA hybridization for the identification and analysis of microbial communities.