First evaluation of the microbiome of built cultural heritage by using the Ion Torrent next generation sequencing platform

Nevertheless, analyses showed to be influenced by the primer choice, and bacteria- and archaea-specific primers confirmed the occurrence of primer bias, as they enabled the unspecific detection of Archaea and Bacteria. The results derived from universal and archaeal-specific primers were comparable, except for Nitrospirae, detected only using universal primers. These data clearly showed the impact of primer choice on the structure of the microbial communities, pointing out the need of a carefully choice of primers. Therefore, we recommend using, in addition to the universal primers, bacteria- and archaea-specific primers in order to cover a higher taxonomic diversity.