An improved method for utilizing next-generation sequencing to determine the diets of insectivorous animals

To determine the effectiveness of next-generation sequencing to characterize insect DNA from animal feces, we created a mock community of 46 cloned insect CO1 sequences. Using this mock community as a control, we discovered that the commonly used "ZBJ" primer set did not amplify many taxa and thus designed a new primer set dubbed "ANML". The mock community was then used to parameterize a bioinformatics pipeline for identification of insects from animal feces.