OTUs based on 97% sequence identity, and the Shannon-Wiener index-based diversity estimator and the Chao1 based index of richness were calculated using MOTHUR

platform to determine the diversity and richness of bacterial communities in each group VE-822 supplier based on the 16S rRNA gene libraries [54]. Libshuff analysis was performed to estimate the similarity between libraries from two diets based on evolutionary distance of all sequences. Coverage and rarefaction curves were also determined using the MOTHUR platform [54]. The 16S rRNA gene sequences were screened using GenBank’s BLAST program [55]. The closest related sequences were retrieved and aligned with sequences from the present study using the CLUSTALW 1.83 program in MEGA 5.05 software [56]. A phylogenetic tree was constructed using

the Kimura two-parameter model and the Neighbor-Joining method as part of the MEGA 5.05 software. The statistical significance was verified by 1000 bootstrapped replicates. The sequences obtained from this study were submitted to GenBank under the accession numbers JX889268 to JX889378. Furthermore, BMN 673 clinical trial an unweighted UniFrac distance matrix was constructed from the phylogenetic tree of clone libraries of Norwegian reindeer, Svalbard reindeer and Sika deer, and was visualized using PCoA [13, 26, 39]. PCR-DGGE banding profiles and statistical analysis The variable region (V3) of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified using the primers of F341GC and R534, and PCR condition was described previously [57]. A 40 bp GC-clamp (5′-CGCCCGGGGCGCGCCCCGGGCGGGGCGGGGGCACGGGGGG-3′) was on the 5′ end of the F341 check details primer. The PCR products were loaded onto 8% polyacrylamide gels (37.5:1) with a denaturing gradient of 40–60% at 80V over 16 h at 60°C. Electrophoresis GPX6 was performed using Bio-Rad’s DCode detection system. The gels were stained with SYBR Green I (Invitrogen, USA) for 25 min and gel images were captured using the Gel Doc™ XR+ system (BIO-RAD, CA). Cluster analysis was performed using a Dice similarity coefficient at 0.5% optimization

and 1% tolerance following the unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) on BioNumerics 6.0 software (Applied-Maths, Kortrijk, Belgium). Dominant bands were excised from DGGE gel and eluted overnight in 500 μl of sterilized ddH2O at 4°C. Extracted DNA was re-amplified using PCR primers F341 and R534 without GC-clamp. The size of PCR products were determined using agarose gel and were purified using QIAquick® PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen, USA). The PCR products were cloned into TOPO® TA Cloning® Kit with TOP 10 according to the manufacturer’s instruction (Invitrogen, San Diego, CA, USA). Recombinant plasmids of positive clones (white) were sequenced using ABI 3730XL DNA Analyzer. The sequences were compared with those sequences deposited in NCBI web site using BLAST program [55]. Acknowledgements Special thanks to Dr. Yanfeng Cheng in the analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences and Dr.