Be positive: customized reference databases and new, local barcodes balance false taxonomic assignments in metabarcoding studies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In metabarcoding analyses, the taxonomic assignment is crucial to place sequencing data in biological and ecological contexts. This fundamental step depends on a reference database, which should have a good taxonomic coverage to avoid unassigned sequences. However, this goal is rarely achieved in many geographic regions and for several taxonomic groups. On the other hand, more is not necessarily better, as sequences in reference databases belonging to taxonomic groups out of the studied region/environment context might lead to false assignments.

Methods

We investigated the effect of using several subsets of a cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) reference database on taxonomic assignment. Published metabarcoding sequences from the Mediterranean Sea were assigned t

SUBMITTER: Mugnai F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9835706 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature