Research progress in the diversity of nitrogen fixing microorganism in rice paddy soil
The diversity and geographical distribution of nitrogen fixing microorganism community in rice paddy soils offer a scientific evidence for efficient application of N2- fixing organism in agricultural practice. Traditional isolation, culture and classification methods for microbe in lab have now been found to have limitation in reflecting the whole genome information of the soil microbes and have been gradually replaced by molecular biological approaches. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) -DGGE (Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis) has been showed to be a powerful tool for separating specific genes from a PCR product and providing a culture-independent method for tracking dominant baterial populations in space and time. This paper presents the basic principle and utilization of molecular biological techniques on diversity analysis of N2 -fixing microbe in paddy field with emphasis on PCR -DGGE.