Figure 2. Taxonomic assignments of rRNA gene reads from the Neanderthal and the cave sediment samples.

Bacterial community composition patterns at (A) the phylum level and (B) within Actinobacteria. The Neanderthal rRNA gene sequence reads were classified based on BLASTn searches to the SSURef111NR database in SILVA, modified as described in the methods section. The cave sediment rRNA gene sequence reads were classified based on a maximum likelihood phylogeny that included related reference sequences. Bacterial composition patterns at the phylum level were inferred from PCR-amplifications of the bacterial DNA extracted from the cave sediment using (A) universal primers and (B) actinobacterial-specific primers. Scales refer to % of all (A) Bacteria and (B) Actinobacteria.