def parse_dbotu_parameters(summary_obj, amplicon_type):
    """
    Parses summary file for dbOTU options.

    Parameters
    ----------
    summary_obj         SummaryParser object
    amplicon_type       '16S' or 'ITS'

    Returns
    -------
    dist                max sequence dissimilarity (default = 0.1)
    abund               minimum fold difference for comparing two OTUs (0=no abundance criterion; default 10.0)
    pval                minimum p-value for merging OTUs (default: 0.0005)
    """

    if amplicon_type == "16S":
        try:
            dbotu_flag = summary_obj.attribute_value_16S['DBOTU']
        except:
            dbotu_flag = 'False'
        try:
            dist = summary_obj.attribute_value_16S['DISTANCE_CRITERIA']
        except:
            dist = 0.1
        try:
            abund = summary_obj.attribute_value_16S['ABUNDANCE_CRITERIA']
        except:
            abund = 10.0
        try:
            pval = summary_obj.attribute_value_16S['DBOTU_PVAL']
        except:
            pval = 0.0005

    elif amplicon_type == "ITS":
        try:
            dbotu_flag = summary_obj.attribute_value_ITS['DBOTU']
        except:
            dbotu_flag = 'False'
        try:
            dist = summary_obj.attribute_value_ITS['DISTANCE_CRITERIA']
        except:
            dist = 0.1
        try:
            abund = summary_obj.attribute_value_ITS['ABUNDANCE_CRITERIA']
        except:
            abund = 10.0
        try:
            pval = summary_obj.attribute_value_ITS['DBOTU_PVAL']
        except:
            pval = 0.0005    

    else:
        raise NameError("Incorrect amplicon type specified for dbOTU summary file parsing")

    return dbotu_flag, dist, abund, pval