Comparative diversity and composition of cyanobacteria in three predominant soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau.

Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRF or T-RFLP) analysis and 16S rDNA sequence analysis from clone libraries were used to examine cyanobacterial diversity in three types of predominant soil crusts in an arid grassland. Total DNA was extracted from cyanobacteria-, lichen-, or moss-dominated crusts that represent different successional stages in crust development, and which contribute different amounts of carbon and nitrogen into the ecosystem. Cyanobacterial 16S rRNA genes were amplified by PCR using cyanobacteria-specific 16S rDNA primers.