Sanger Sequencing of the 16s Ribosomal RNA Gene in Bacteria

The 16s ribosomal RNA gene is present in all bacteria. It has areas of conservation and areas of variability. And so you could use it as a general indicator that there are bacteria there. The sequencing itself is something that has been done routinely in clinical laboratories like ours since the 1990s, but that has used Sanger sequencing.