Molecular analysis of bacterial community succession during prolonged compost curing.

The compost environment consists of complex organic materials that form a habitat for a rich and diverse microbial community. The aim of this research was to study the dynamics of microbial communities during the compost-curing phase. Three different methods based on 16S rRNA gene sequence were applied to monitor changes in the microbial communities: (1) denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of PCR-generated rRNA gene fragments; (2) partial rRNA gene clone libraries; and (3) a microarray of oligonucleotide probes targeting rRNA gene sequences.