Fusion-primers were designed including the sequences of the 454-Amplicon DNA library specific primers A and B, respectively, (GS FLX Amplicon DNA Library Preparation Method Manual, www.roche-applied-science.com), 4-base barcode sequences for identifying amplicon products derived from mule deer specimen MD 257, MD OCT-pool, and MD 80228 (TGCA, ACGT, and CGAT, respectively), and the ''universal'' V6-specific PCR primer sequences V6F: 59 TCGATGCAACGCGAAGAA 39 and V6R: 59 ACATTTCACAACACGAGCTGACGA 39 (designed to conserved regions flanking V6 based on comparison of 110 bacterial DNA sequences [39] ).