To demonstrate that we can use skin bacteria to link touched surfaces to specific individuals, the following criteria must be met: (i) bacterial DNA recovered from touched surfaces allows for adequate characterization and comparison of bacterial communities; (ii) skin bacterial communities persist on surfaces for days to weeks; and (iii) surfaces that are touched can be effectively linked to individuals by assessing the degree of similarity between the bacterial communities on the object and the skin of the individual who touched the object. To establish these criteria and to demonstrate the potential utility of the approach for forensic identification, we carried out three interrelated studies that combine recent developments in phylogenetic community analyses (10) with high-throughput pyrosequencing methods (11). First, we compared bacterial communities on individual keys of three computer keyboards to the communities found on the fingers of the keyboard owners. Second, we examined the similarity between skin-associated bacterial communities on objects stored at −20 °C (a standard method for storing samples before DNA extraction) versus those objects stored under typical indoor environmental conditions for up to 14 days. Finally, we linked objects to specific individuals by comparing the bacteria on their computer mice against a database containing bacterial community information for more than 250 hand surfaces, including the hand of the owner.