Table 1. Treatments, replicate numbers, and optimizations for each specimen swabbing event, chronological from left to right.

	Specimen swabbing event
	A	B	C	D	E
Swab sequence	5x6	15x6	25x6	25x6	25x6
Total swab strokes	30	90	150	150	150
DNA extraction	PM	PM	PM	PM	MN
TE rehydration	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Dilution & replicate #	1:10: singlicate a	1:10: singlicate a	1:10: singlicate a	1:10: duplicate a	No dilution; duplicate a
Additional dilution & replicate #	-	-	-	1:5: singlicate b	-
Additional treatment & replicate #	-	-	GR singlicate c	GR singlicate d	-

PM = PrepMan; MN = Macherey-Nagel DNA FFPE; GR = Genereleaser

^an = 62;

^bn = 47;

^cn = 50

^dn = 48