FIG. 1.

Phylogenetic representation of different cultivated and uncultivated Bacteroides spp. In this study, a total of 19 primers were designed to target 14 functionally important Bacteroides spp. and Parabacteroides spp. at various taxonomical levels. The associated coverage of each primer is indicated on the right. Primers were arranged into six reaction tubes, with those targeting at the species level distributed across reaction tubes 1 to 5. Within reaction tubes 1 to 5, an associated higher-level primer, usually targeting not beyond the family level, was placed alongside. In the last reaction tube, all higher-level primers that were used in reaction tubes 1 to 5 (i.e., Bth274 and Bfrg602) were placed along with primers targeting at even higher taxonomical levels, like Bac303 and U1390.