Table 1.
The specificity of binding to different template strands for three forward and four reverse primers. The performance of each primer was examined for the ten most abundant taxa in each PCR reaction (for which the template sequences were known).
| Primer combination | Primer tested | Length variation | Proportion with expected length (±SD) | t-test (p value) | Fig. | Data set |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P5_BF1_0 + P7_BR1_4 | BF1 | −1 to 2 bp for some taxa | 80.42 (±18.94) | 0.003 | Fig. 1A | (Elbrecht & Leese11) |
| BR1 | No variation | 99.44 (±0.04) | NA | Fig. S1A | ||
| P5_BF2_0 + P7_BR1_4 | BF2 | −1 to 2 bp for some taxa, +1 for all taxa | 62.14 (±14.07) | NA | Fig. 1B | (Elbrecht & Leese11) |
| BR1 | No variation | 99.45 (±0.04) | NA | Fig. S1B | ||
| P5_fwhF1_3 + P7_fwhR1_1 | fwhR1 | +1 for all taxa | 96.24 (±1.22) | NA | Fig. S1C | (Vamos et al.14) |
| P5_fwhR2_2 + P7_fwhF2_3 | fwhR2 | No variation | 99.33 (±0.05) | NA | Fig. S1E | (Vamos et al.14) |
| fwhF2 | −1 to 2 bp for some taxa | 82.23 (±22.05) | 0.003 | Fig. S1D | (Vamos et al.14) | |
| mlCOIintF + jgHCO2198, complete run 1 | mlCOIintF | −1 to 2 bp for some taxa | 70.08 (±29.93) | 0.003 | Fig. S1F | (Leray & Knowlton15) |
The exact primer length distribution and number of sequences used for this analysis are also provided in Table S1. For primers where no length variation was observed or for primers where all taxa showed length variation, no t-test could be applied (NA) due to the lack of groups (slippage vs no slippage).