text: If a clone library is constructed in parallel to the T-RFLP analysis then the clones can be used to assess and interpret the T-RFLP profile. In this method the TRF of each clone is determined either directly (i.e. performing T-RFLP analysis on each single clone) or by in silico analysis of that clone’s sequence. By comparing the T-RFLP profile to a clone library it is possible to validate each of the peaks as genuine as well as to assess the relative abundance of each variant in the library.