Microbial community profiling for human microbiome projects: Tools, techniques, and challenges
Year: 2009
Type: preprint
Abstract: High-throughput sequencing studies and new software tools are revolutionizing microbial community analyses, yet the variety of experimental and computational methods can be daunting. In this review, we discuss some of the different approaches to community profiling, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of various experimental approaches, sequencing methodologies, and analytical methods. We also address one key question emerging from various Human Microbiome Projects: Is there a substantial core of abundant organisms or lineages that we all share? It appears that in some human body habitats, such as the hand and the gut, the diversity among individuals is so great that we can rule out the possibility that any species is at high abundance in all individuals: It is possible that the focus should instead be on higher-level taxa or on functional genes instead.
Source: Genome Research
Authors: Micah Hamady, Rob Knight
Institution: University of Colorado Boulder
Language: English
Topic: Gut microbiota and health
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Office of International Science and Engineering
OpenAlex ID: W2338541571