| This study represents the first attempt to estimate soil microbial diversity of salt marshes in the process of natural restoration. Our objective was to establish that soil bacterial diversity of salt marshes can be estimated using the PCR-RFLP method. The salt marshes in our study, Charleston Slough and Mountain View, are located in Mountain View, California. The bacterial 16S rRNA genes (1.5 kb) were PCR amplified from soil genomic DNA, and clone libraries were established for the respective marshes The 1.5 kb inserts were isolated from the recombinant clones and digested with MspI and HaeIII endonucleases. We were successful in obtaining 24 different RFLP patterns from a total of 45 clones obtained from soil samples of both the marshes. However, precise microbial diversity estimations require further optimizing the method and analyzing at least 200 clones from each of the marshes. |
