Quantitative analysis of a deeply sequenced marine microbial metatranscriptome.

ABSTRACT: The potential of metatranscriptomic sequencing to provide insights into the environmental factors that regulate microbial activities depends on how fully the sequence libraries capture community expression (that is, sample-sequencing depth and coverage depth), and the sensitivity with which expression differences between communities can be detected (that is, statistical power for hypothesis testing). In this study, we use an internal standard approach to make absolute (per liter) estimates of transcript numbers, a significant advantage over proportional estimates that can be biased by expression changes in unrelated genes. Coastal waters of the southeastern United States contain 1 × 10(12) bacterioplankton mRNA molecules per liter of seawater (~200 mRNA molecules per bacterial cell). Even

SUBMITTER: Gifford SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3105723 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature