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Title: High-throughput metagenomic technologies for complex microbial community analysis. Open and closed formats

Journal Article · · mBio (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
  3. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  4. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  5. Dept. of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States)
  6. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Understanding the structure, functions, activities and dynamics of microbial communities in natural environments is one of the grand challenges of 21st century science. To address this challenge, over the past decade, numerous technologies have been developed for interrogating microbial communities, of which some are amenable to exploratory work (e.g., high-throughput sequencing and phenotypic screening) and others depend on reference genes or genomes (e.g., phylogenetic and functional gene arrays). Here, we provide a critical review and synthesis of the most commonly applied “open-format” and “closed-format” detection technologies. We discuss their characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages within the context of environmental applications and focus on analysis of complex microbial systems, such as those in soils, in which diversity is high and reference genomes are few. In addition, we discuss crucial issues and considerations associated with applying complementary high-throughput molecular technologies to address important ecological questions.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1215655
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1512158
Journal Information:
mBio (Online), Vol. 6, Issue 1; ISSN 2150-7511
Publisher:
American Society for MicrobiologyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 254 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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