Characterization of denitrification gene clusters of soil bacteria via a metagenomic approach

International audience; Denitrification is a microbial respiratory process contributing to the emission of greenhouse gas. The study of denitrifying bacteria, like that of others, is hindered by characteristics that can prevent up to 99% of soil bacteria from being cultivated in vitro. New approaches based on the direct extraction of DNA from the natural environment and PCR amplifications can overcome limitations due to bacterial unculturability, but until now their application to denitrification genes has led only to the recovery of partial sequences for some of these genes.Our goals in this study were to apply a metagenomic approach characterized by cloning of DNA extracted from soil and …