Intragenomic Variation Among 16S rRNA Copies in Vibrio - Significance of Lifestyle

Abstract

Intragenomic heterogeneity among 16S rRNA gene copies has been found in several species of bacteria. In this thesis, the presence of different 16S rRNA gene copies and the differences in the relative abundance of these 16S rRNA gene variants for different lifestyles was examined for three species of Vibrio. The Vibrio strains used were Vibrio anguillarum strain HI610, Vibrio campbellii strain BB120 and the Vibrio sp. strain RD5-30. The methods used to examine this were denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and Illumina 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing.