SymPortal: A novel analytical framework and platform for coral algal symbiont next-generation sequencing ITS2 profiling.

ABSTRACT: We present SymPortal (SymPortal.org), a novel analytical framework and platform for genetically resolving the algal symbionts of reef corals using next-generation sequencing (NGS) data of the ITS2 rDNA. Although the ITS2 marker is widely used to genetically characterize taxa within the family Symbiodiniaceae (formerly the genus Symbiodinium), the multicopy nature of the marker complicates its use. Commonly, the intragenomic diversity resultant from this multicopy nature is collapsed by analytical approaches, thereby focusing on only the most abundant sequences. In contrast, SymPortal employs logic to identify within-sample informative intragenomic sequences, which we have termed 'defining intragenomic variants' (DIVs), to identify ITS2-type profiles representative of putative Symbiodiniace

SUBMITTER: Hume BCC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6618109 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature