FIG. 5.

Multiple-competitor RT-PCR of rRNA from soil sample A1 resolved by TGGE and detected by silver staining (12 μl of RT-PCR product per lane). The 20 signals selected for quantification are indicated; the designations have been described previously (12). The 20 sequences were quantified with image analysis software. Each sequence was quantified in the lane in which the intensity of the corresponding E. coli signal (indicated with an asterisk) was most similar in relation to the amount of rRNA represented by the E. coli signal and the amount of soil (10 mg) represented by the soil rRNA template.