Evaluation of primer pairs for microbiome profiling of diverse compartments

16.06.2020
We evaluated the performance of commonly recommended PCR primer pairs on microbiome samples along a model food chain, including soils, maize roots, cattle rumen, and cattle and human faeces. Primer pair choice directly influenced the estimation of community changes within and across compartments and may give rise to preferential detection of specific taxa. This work demonstrates why a standardized approach is necessary to analyse microbiomes within and between source compartments along food chains.