FIG. 4.

PAGE gels of nucleic acid samples extracted from various environmental samples. (a) Lanes 1 and 2, coastal marine microbial mat; lanes 3 and 4, anaerobic sewage sludge digester; lanes 5 and 6, solid waste digester. Samples in lanes 1, 3, and 5 were treated with FPLCpure DNase 1; samples in lanes 2, 4, and 6 are undigested controls. (b) Lane 1, Methanosaeta concilii 11 days after transfer into fresh medium (exponential growth phase); lane 2, M. concilii 25 days after transfer into fresh medium (stationary growth phase). LSU and SSU represent bands for the large rRNA of the large ribosomal subunit (23S and 23S-like rRNA) and for the small-subunit rRNA, respectively.