Quantitative metagenomic analyses based on average genome size normalization.

ABSTRACT: Over the past quarter-century, microbiologists have used DNA sequence information to aid in the characterization of microbial communities. During the last decade, this has expanded from single genes to microbial community genomics, or metagenomics, in which the gene content of an environment can provide not just a census of the community members but direct information on metabolic capabilities and potential interactions among community members. Here we introduce a method for the quantitative characterization and comparison of microbial communities based on the normalization of metagenomic data by estimating average genome sizes. This normalization can relieve comparative biases introduced by differences in community structure, number of sequencing reads, and sequencing read lengths between

SUBMITTER: Frank JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3067418 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature