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Abstract:
Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) nowadays is among the more important and wide-spread molecular tools used to characterize the microorganisms present in environmental samples. Its importance stems from the fact that nucleic acid probing can be combined with microscopy to identify microorganisms at the single cell level in their natural habitats. This not only allows for localization and quantification of cell numbers, but it provides the necessary (and sometimes only) proof that not yet cultivated Bacteria and Archaea really exist as living cells, and are not only “molecular ghosts” predicted by comparative sequence analysis or fingerprinting.
