Metagenomics: a path to understanding the gut microbiome.

Mamm Genome

Oxford Centre for Microbiome Studies, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7FY, UK.

Published: August 2021

AI Article Synopsis

  • The gut microbiome is important for our health, and scientists have started to study it more deeply using new technology called next-generation sequencing.
  • This technology allows researchers to look at different types of tiny organisms in our gut and learn about their roles and functions.
  • The review talks about the tools used to analyze this data and also mentions new tech that could change how we understand the microbiome even more in the future.

Article Abstract

The gut microbiome is a major determinant of host health, yet it is only in the last 2 decades that the advent of next-generation sequencing has enabled it to be studied at a genomic level. Shotgun sequencing is beginning to provide insight into the prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic and viral components of the gut community, revealing not just their taxonomy, but also the functions encoded by their collective metagenome. This revolution in understanding is being driven by continued development of sequencing technologies and in consequence necessitates reciprocal development of computational approaches that can adapt to the evolving nature of sequence datasets. In this review, we provide an overview of current bioinformatic strategies for handling metagenomic sequence data and discuss their strengths and limitations. We then go on to discuss key technological developments that have the potential to once again revolutionise the way we are able to view and hence understand the microbiome.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8295064PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00335-021-09889-xDOI Listing

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