Monitoring the ecological status of rivers with diatom eDNA metabarcoding: A comparison of taxonomic markers and analytical approaches for the inference of a molecular diatom index.

ABSTRACT: Recently, several studies demonstrated the usefulness of diatom eDNA metabarcoding as an alternative to assess the ecological quality of rivers and streams. However, the choice of the taxonomic marker as well as the methodology for data analysis differ between these studies, hampering the comparison of their results and effectiveness. The aim of this study was to compare two taxonomic markers commonly used in diatom metabarcoding and three distinct analytical approaches to infer a molecular diatom index. We used the values of classical morphological diatom index as a benchmark for this comparison. We amplified and sequenced both a fragment of the rbcL gene and the V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene for 112 epilithic samples from Swiss and French rivers. We inferred index values using three ana

SUBMITTER: Apotheloz-Perret-Gentil L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8358953 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature