Primer mismatch ratios for phyla detected using the RT-SSU rRNA approach.

<p>RT-SSU rRNA sequences containing regions corresponding to the forward and reverse PCR primer sites used to generate the PCR amplicon library in this study were aligned against their closest database match, and the number of insertions, deletions (indels) or mutations within the primer binding site recorded. Primer mismatch ratios were calculated by dividing the total number of sequence reads containing the primer-binding site by the total number of indels and mutations recorded within the primer binding sites of those sequences.