Comparison of HRM and DGGE methods to study the composition of soil bacterial communities indifferent land uses

Land use change is one of the most important factors influencing soil microbial communities which play a pivotal role in most biogeochemical and ecological processes. In order to determine the effect of land use on the composition of soil bacterial communities, High Resolution Melt (HRM) analysis and Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) were used in three different land uses (orchard land, farmland and shrub land) in Jiroft plain, Iran. In the case of HRM analysis, a real-time PCR device equipped with this technique was used. DGGE technique via DCodeTM Universal Mutation Detection System was conducted to evaluate the composition of soil bacterial communities. The results of HRM as well as the ordination results based on the presence or absence of DGGE bands in soil samples using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) method showed that the land-use change from shrub land to agriculture (orchard and farm) had a significant effect on the soil bacterial community composition. According to the results of both methods, the soil bacterial community composition in agricultural lands (orchard and farm) was more similar than shrub land. Since HRM analysis is less expensive, easier and has less bias compared to DGGE technique, it is recommended to compare the composition of soil bacterial communities in different samples.