The microbial signature of drinking waters: myth or reality?

This paper presents a new software developed for analyzing single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) electrophoresis patterns delivered by the genetic analyzer ABI310 (Applied Biosystems). SSCP is a molecular typing technique based on the PCR amplification of microbial 16S rDNA and used for the monitoring of complex microbial ecosystems dynamics. The software--a home-made MATLAB toolbox called MODIMECO--developed for the analysis of SSCP patterns is presented.