DGGE of small ribosomal subunit coding genes was first described by Gerard Muyzer, while he was Post-doc at Leiden University, and has become a widely used technique in microbial ecology.
PCR amplification of DNA extracted from mixed microbial communities with PCR primers specific for 16S rRNA gene fragments of bacteria and archaea, and 18S rRNA gene fragments of eukaryotes results in mixtures of PCR products.
Because these amplicons all have the same length, they cannot be separated from each other by agarose gel electrophoresis. However, sequence variations (i.e. differences in GC content and distribution) between different microbial rRNAs result in different denaturation properties of these DNA molecules.
Hence, DGGE banding patterns can be used to visualize variations in microbial genetic diversity and provide a rough estimate of the richness of abundance of predominant microbial community members. This method is often referred to as community fingerprinting. Recently, several studies have shown that DGGE of functional genes (e.g. genes involved in sulfur reduction, nitrogen fixation, and ammonium oxidation) can provide information about microbial function and phylogeny simultaneously. For instance, Tabatabaei et al. (2009) applied DGGE and managed to reveal the microbial pattern during the anaerobic fermentation of palm oil mill effluent (POME) for the first time.