"Metagenomics is the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental or clinical samples by a method called sequencing."
It is the study of microbial communities and their genetic diversity.
Microbial Diversity: Understanding different types of microbes existing in different environments is essential for understanding metagenomics.
Genomics: The study of genomes, including structure, function, and evolution, helps us understand the information contained in metagenomes.
Bioinformatics: The application of computational tools and algorithms to biological data is essential for analyzing large and complex metagenomic datasets.
Statistics: Basic statistical tools are required to analyze the clustered data and to make decisions during metagenomic data processing.
Sampling Methods: An essential part of metagenomic analysis is sampling the environment to obtain the microbial community sample.
DNA Extraction and Sequencing: Understanding the nucleic acid isolation and sequencing methods available is necessary to prepare and sequence samples in metagenomics.
Taxonomy: Knowledge of different taxonomical classifications is crucial to identify the microbial community, which is necessary to better understand the metagenomic data.
Assembly: Assembling datasets from millions of reads is a challenging task, making assembly algorithms an essential part of metagenomic analysis.
Gene Prediction and Annotation: Accurately predicting functional genes and annotation is essential for deciphering the potential roles of different metagenomic members.
Pathway analysis: Understanding different metabolic pathways enables the correlating of metabolic function and environmental conditions with microbial communities.
Phylogenetic and comparative analysis: Accurate and robust tools for comparing genome characteristics and phylogenetic relationships between organisms are essential for understanding the evolutionary relationships between different members of a microbial community.
Statistical Analysis: Statistical methods are used for analyzing the differences and similarities of different microbial species or groups.
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR): PCR is a fundamental technique in molecular biology and is often used in metagenomics sample preparation, amplification, and analysis.
Metabolomics: Metabolomics describes the analysis of the chemicals produced by metabolic pathways and is a useful tool to link them to specific microbes.
Microbiome: The study of microbiomes can provide insights into associations between the microbial community and host health, lifestyles, and environments.
Metatranscriptomics: The analysis of the gene expression within a microbial community.
Metaproteomics: The analysis of the proteins that microbes produce.
Microbial modeling: Developing models of microbial communities can help in predicting microbial functions, their interactions, and their response to environmental changes.
Environmental Science: Knowledge of environmental science, including biogeochemistry, hydrology, and other Earth sciences, is needed to understand how the microbial community interacts with and is affected by their environment.
Systems Biology: This is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexity of the biological systems and integrating experimental and computational approaches. It is a powerful tool to understand complex microbial communities.
Soil metagenomics: The study of genetic diversity in soil microorganisms and their functions.
Gut metagenomics: The study of the microbial communities in the gastrointestinal tract of animals and their impact on health.
Ocean metagenomics: The study of microbial diversity and functions in ocean ecosystems.
Environmental metagenomics: The examination of the microbial diversity and functional activities in various environmental samples, including air, water, sediment, and others.
Oral metagenomics: The analysis of the microbial communities in the oral cavity and their contribution to oral health and disease.
Human microbiome metagenomics: The study of the genetic content of the human microbiome, which includes all the microorganisms that reside on or within the human body.
Plant-associated metagenomics: The study of the microbial communities associated with plant roots, stems, and leaves, and their role in plant growth and stress resistance.
Microbial ecology metagenomics: The examination of the interactions between microorganisms and their environment.
Fecal metagenomics: The study of bacterial communities present in feces and their relationship to the host's health.
Vaginal metagenomics: The analysis of the microbial communities in the vaginal microbiome and their impact on reproductive health.
"The broad field may also be referred to as environmental genomics, ecogenomics, community genomics or microbiomics."
"While traditional microbiology and microbial genome sequencing and genomics rely upon cultivated clonal cultures, early environmental gene sequencing cloned specific genes (often the 16S rRNA gene) to produce a profile of diversity in a natural sample."
"Such work revealed that the vast majority of microbial biodiversity had been missed by cultivation-based methods."
"Because of its ability to reveal the previously hidden diversity of microscopic life, metagenomics offers a powerful way of understanding the microbial world that might revolutionize understanding of biology."
"As the price of DNA sequencing continues to fall, metagenomics now allows microbial ecology to be investigated at a much greater scale and detail than before."
"Recent studies use either 'shotgun' or PCR directed sequencing to get largely unbiased samples of all genes from all the members of the sampled communities."
"The study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental or clinical samples by a method called sequencing."
"Metagenomics offers a powerful way of understanding the microbial world that might revolutionize understanding of biology."
"Metagenomics allows microbial ecology to be investigated at a much greater scale and detail than before."
"The vast majority of microbial biodiversity had been missed by cultivation-based methods."
"Metagenomics offers a powerful way of understanding the microbial world that might revolutionize understanding of biology."
"The broad field may also be referred to as environmental genomics, ecogenomics, community genomics or microbiomics."
"The study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental or clinical samples by a method called sequencing."
"The study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental or clinical samples."
"Such work revealed that the vast majority of microbial biodiversity had been missed by cultivation-based methods."
"As the price of DNA sequencing continues to fall, metagenomics now allows microbial ecology to be investigated at a much greater scale and detail than before."
"Metagenomics offers a powerful way of understanding the microbial world that might revolutionize understanding of biology."
"Recent studies use either 'shotgun' or PCR directed sequencing to get largely unbiased samples of all genes from all the members of the sampled communities."
"The study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental or clinical samples."