DGGE fingerprints of bacterial communities from the Chesapeake Bay. Representative bands were excised and sequenced (44). A total of 53 bands were excised, and the missing band numbers (4, 10, 11, 19, 22, 24, 26, 27, 31, 32, 34, 37 to 39, 41, 42, 47, 49, and 51 to 53) are from other sampling months (44). The markers (M) covered a broad range of GC contents and represent a mixture of bands excised and reamplified from other environmental samples.