['Humans suffer from infections caused by single species or more complex polymicrobial communities. Identification of infectious bacteria commonly employs microbiological culture, which depends upon the in vitro propagation and isolation of viable organisms. In contrast, detection of bacterial DNA using next generation sequencing (NGS) allows culture-independent microbial profiling, potentially providing important new insights into the microbiota in clinical specimens.', 'NGS 16S rRNA gene sequencing (NGS16S) was compared with culture using (a) synthetic polymicrobial samples for which the identity and abundance of organisms present were precisely defined and (b) primary clinical specimens.', 'Complex mixtures of at least 20 organisms were well resolved by NGS16S with excellent reproducibility. In mixed bacterial suspensions (10'] Does clinical Next Generation Sequencing outperform Standard Microbiological Culture for Characterizing Polymicrobial Samples?