Novel endophytic nitrogen-fixing clostridia from the grass Miscanthus sinensis as revealed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis

Clostridial populations and their phylogenetic structures in a strand of the grass Miscanthus sinensis in Japan assessed by a 16s rRNA gene-targeted terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis combined with most-probable number (MPN) counts is discussed. Group II clostridia were found to exist exclusively in M. Sinensis, when phylogenetic populations from M. Sinensis and the soil around the plants are compared.