Nucleic acid extraction and 16S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing
STERILE, POSITIVE
Prior to nucleic acid extraction, lateral vaginal wall swabs were thawed on ice and shaken at 100RPM for 3 min to mix transport media/sample suspension. In nearly all cases, gDNA was extracted from 250 µL of Digene solution. However, where there was insufficient volume, 550 µL of sterile PBS was added to the swab in the vial, which was shaken for another three minutes at 100RPM, and gDNA was extracted from 250 µL of shaken PBS. Bacterial gDNA was extracted using the DNeasy Powersoil HTP 96 kit (Qiagen) following the manufacturer’s protocol. Positive control DNA was extracted on each plate from pure cultures of 