Algorithm for post-clustering curation of DNA amplicon data yields reliable biodiversity estimates.

ABSTRACT: DNA metabarcoding is promising for cost-effective biodiversity monitoring, but reliable diversity estimates are difficult to achieve and validate. Here we present and validate a method, called LULU, for removing erroneous molecular operational taxonomic units (OTUs) from community data derived by high-throughput sequencing of amplified marker genes. LULU identifies errors by combining sequence similarity and co-occurrence patterns. To validate the LULU method, we use a unique data set of high quality survey data of vascular plants paired with plant ITS2 metabarcoding data of DNA extracted from soil from 130 sites in Denmark spanning major environmental gradients. OTU tables are produced with several different OTU definition algorithms and subsequently curated with LULU, and validated again

SUBMITTER: Froslev TG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5662604 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature