title: Comparative analysis of surface sanitization protocols on the bacterial community structures in the hospital environment
design: Total DNA was isolated from all samples. After DNA concentration measurement, DNA was used as input for PCR amplification of the 16S region. The Illumina 16S Primer Constructs (515F-806R) for the amplification were fused with Golay indices and adapter sequences as described in the Earth Microbiome Project protocol (http://www.earthmicrobiome.org/protocols-and-standards/16S/). PCR products were purified and quantified. The libraries were equimolarly pooled and prepared for Illumina Sequencing. Sequencing was performed on a MiSeq apparatus (Illumina) with 251 cycles. After sequencing, the raw data were checked with regard to sequence quality and remaining adapters, and trimmed if necessary. Forward and reverse reads were merged using PEAR, and subsequently demultiplexed according to used barcodes (QIIME script).