Detection and identification of gastrointestinal Lactobacillus species by using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and species-specific PCR primers

Species-specific PCR primers targeting the 16S-23S intergenic spacer region or 16S rRNA gene sequences can be used to identify different bacterial species residing in the gastrointestinal tract. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis is used to separate the mixture of 16S fragments.