DNA metabarcoding of dung beetle gut contents

Illumina sequencing of 12S and 16S rRNA marker genes from the gut contents of 547 dung beetle individuals belonging to 15 dung beetle species.Dung beetle individuals were collected using baited pitfall traps set in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Singapore, in January to March 2023.Reads were obtained by:1. Standard PCR with tagged 12S (12SV05 forward: TTAGATACCCCACTATGC; 12SV05 reverse: TAGAACAGGCTCCTCTAG) and 16S (16Smam1forward: CGGTTGGGGTGACCTCGGA; 16Smam2 reverse: GCTGTTATCCCTAGGGTAACT) primer sets2. Next-generation sequencing on Illumina Novaseq platform using 150 bp paired end reads aiming for two Gb of data for each pooled product (performed by Axil Scientific Pte Ltd)