TABLE 4.

Primer sets and thermal profiles used for the absolute quantification of functional target genes involved in nitrogen turnover

Target gene	Primer set	Reference	Thermal cycling profile	No. of cycles
nifH	nifH-F-Rösch	30	95°C/45 s, 55°C/45 s, 72°C/45 s	40
	nifH-R-Rösch
amoA (AOB)	amoA-1F	32	94°C/60 s, 60°C/60 s, 72°C/60 s	39
	amoA-2R
amoA (AOA)	19F	21	94°C/45 s, 50°C/45 s, 72°C/45 s	40
	CrenamoA616r48x	36
nirK	nirK-876	17	95°C/15 s, 63°C-58°C/30 s, 72°C/30 s	6a
	nirK-5R	4		40
nirS	nirS-cd3af	26	94°C/60 s, 57°C/60 s, 72°C/60 s	39
	nirS-R3cd	40

^aTouch down.