Question

Part 1

You have been hired as a consulting microbiologist to help a wildlife ecologist understand the microbial diversity in soil samples from different habitats. If you had DNA samples from 3 habitats, explain the steps (from sample to data analysis), the gene-based approach you would use to do this work and the steps you would use to determine if the microbial communities in the samples were taxonomically similar or different

Part 2

Denitrifiers use nitrite reductase genes for denitrification. You get hundreds of samples sent to you from habitats where denitrification is important. Describe how you would compare these samples and what would be different from the methods you outlined in your answer to number 4 above

Answer 1