Amplicon sequencing with internal standards yields accurate picocyanobacteria cell abundances as validated with flow cytometry.

ABSTRACT: To understand ecosystem state and function, marine microbial ecologists seek measurements of organismal abundance and diversity at high taxonomic resolution. Conventional flow cytometry accurately estimates microbial cell abundance but only discerns broad groups with distinct optical properties. While amplicon sequencing resolves more comprehensive diversity within microbiomes, it typically only provides relative organismal abundances within samples, not absolute abundance changes. Internal genomic standards offer a solution for absolute amplicon-based measures. Here, we spiked genomic standards into plankton samples from surface seawater, gathered at 46-km intervals along a cruise transect spanning the southern California Current System and the oligotrophic North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

SUBMITTER: Jones-Kellett AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11459381 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature