The metagenome Flashcards
What is Metagenomics
the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental or biological systems/compartments
- gives unbiased view of taxonomic diversity in a sample
What is Microbiota
the combination of organisms in the compartment
ecological community of commensal and pathogenic microorganisms including bacteria, archae, protists, fungi and viruses
What is Microbiome
microbiota + “theatre of activity” (which is the other biological components such as peptides, lipids, toxins etc)
the collective genomes of microorganisms in communities
Taxonomic Diversity
The number and relative abundance of species in a community.
Taxonomic diversity varies by body site
What have changes in human microbiome been associated with?
multiple human illnesses e.g.:
- IBS
- depression
- cancer
Which microbiome can be used to classify individuals as lean or obese?
Gut microbiome (>90% accuracy)
Which infection affects stool microbiome?
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)
- stool microbiome infected with this is quite different from a healthy stool microbiome
- CDI has greater effect on stool microbiome than host genetic factors
Restoration of healthy stool microbiome after CDI
Faecal microbiota transplant
- rapid restoration to healthy state
What are the technological approaches carried out in Metagenomics?
1) Targeted PCR Amplification
> relies on 16S ribosomal RNA for bacteria
2) Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing
16S Targeted PCR Amplification
16S ribosomal RNA is a component of the 30S small subunit of prokaryotic ribosome
The gene for a 16SrRNA is split into variable regions and has conserved regions
- Variable regions are the parts that can be used to determine the different species that are present in a sample - contain the phylogenetic signals
Steps of 16S Targeted PCR Amplification
1) Collect bacterial sample
2) Extract DNA from that sample
3) Perform a 16S PCR amplification
4) Put that on a sequencing machine
5) Sequences generated which match to the products we amplified which should match to the actual bacterial content of the original sample
Data Analysis of 16S Targeted PCR Amplification
Sequences generated are compared to databases of 16S genes from different bacterial species to identify the species and abundance of species in the sample
This abundance type measurement is converted into a graph, with colours representing different bacterial species
What is used to generate data from 16S Targeted PCR Amplification?
Software tools e.g.:
- QIIME2
- Mothur
- DADA2
Problem with sequencing 16S gene
It is 1500 bases long and therefore you can’t sequence the whole gene on “short read sequencing machine”.
Therefore, only particular regions are sequenced e.g. V1-V2, V1-V3, V3-V5, V4
However, new long read platform sequencing machines are able to sequence the whole 16S gene (V1-V9)
How do we choose which variable regions to sequence in 16S Targeted PCR Amplification?
Choosing variable regions is based on: depends on your experiment
- phylogenetic signal
- amplicon length