TABLE 5.

Effect of lower number of cycles of the PCR on skewing of product ratios^a

Prepn	Species ratiosb
	B. subtilis/ V. fischeri	B. subtilis/ V. anguillarum	V. fischeri/ V. anguillarum
Genomic mixture	1.0 ± 0.05	1.0 ± 0.06	1.0 ± 0.05
PCR mixture, 10 cycles	1.7 ± 0.10	2.2 ± 0.10	1.3 ± 0.04
PCR mixture, 5 cycles	1.3 ± 0.15	1.5 ± 0.14	1.1 ± 0.05

^aThe data were generated by dot blotting and hybridization with species-specific probes containing equal amounts of template DNA from the three species (genomic mixture) and a mixture of 10 replicate PCR amplifications (5 and 10 cycles). 

^bMeans ± standard deviations were calculated from data for eight replicate dots for each of the samples which was hybridized with the specific probes and quantified by phosphorimaging.