(Additional file 1). LSplex was carried out with different amounts of pure culture bacterial DNA templates. A primer mix was used with a final concentration of in general 0.02 μM of each primer. Reactions in a total volume of 50 μL were performed with 2 U either of Taq DNA polymerase (Fermentas, St. Leon-Rot, Germany) (standard LSplex) or Vent exo- DNA polymerase (New England Biolabs, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) (optimized LSplex). Standard LSplex using Taq DNA polymerase amplification reactions contained 1× KCl PCR buffer (Fermentas), 2 mM MgCl2, and 0.2 mM of dATP, dCTP, gGTP, and dTTP (Sigma). Optimized LSplex using Vent exo- DNA polymerase

amplification reactions GDC-0449 purchase contained 1× ThermoPolBuffer (New England Biolabs), 4 mM MgCl2, and 0.2 mM of dATP, dCTP, dGTP, and dTTP (Sigma). The cycling was performed in Trio T3 Thermocycler (Biometra, IWP-2 research buy Goettingen, Germany) using protocol comprising an initial denaturing step at 94°C for 3 minutes, followed by 35 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 55°C for 45 s and 72°C for 1 min. LSplex products were spin purified with the QIAquick PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen) and eluted with nuclease-free

water (pH 8). Labelling of multiplex amplified products for microarray hybridization experiments LSplex amplified products were labelled with fluorophores after or during amplification. 1. Labelling after amplification Purified LSplex products in a volume of 20 μL were labelled with 3 μL of either Cy5-dCTP or Cy3-dCTP (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech Europe, Freiburg, Germany) by random priming using Klenow Polymerase (50 units) (BioPrime DNA labelling Kit, Invitrogen, Karlsruhe, Germany) in the presence of 0.12 mM dATP, dGTP and dTTP and 0.06 mM dCTP, in a total volume of 50 μL. After 2 hours incubation at 37°C, the reaction was stopped by adding 5 μL of 0.5 M EDTA. 2. Labelling during amplification Labelling during PCR was performed directly, by incorporation of fluorescent

nucleotides, or indirectly by incorporation Phospholipase D1 of aminoallyl-modified nucleotides and subsequent staining of the amplified products with amino reactive fluorescent dyes. The LSplex PCR protocols using Taq or Vent exo- DNA polymerases were modified as follows: 1) for direct labelling the amount of dTTP was reduced to 0.15 mM and 0.05 mM of Alexa Fluor 546-14-dUTP was added (ChromaTide Labelled Nucleotides, Selleckchem STA-9090 Molecular Probes, Willow Creek, US). 2) for indirect labelling the amount of dTTP was reduced to 0.13 mM and 0.07 mM aminoallyl-dUTP was added (ARES DNA labelling Kit, Invitrogen). Amino-modified amplified DNA was spin purified with the QIAquick PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen), eluted in 60 μL nuclease-free water (pH 8), analyzed by spectrophotometry, freeze-dried (Lyovac GT2, Finn-Aqua, Huerth, Germany), resuspended in 5 μL nuclease-free water and subsequently stained with Alexa-fluor 555 or 647. 3.