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Environmental metagenomics is the study of organisms in a microbial community based on analyzing the DNA within an environmental sample.
Examples include profiling microbial populations in water samples taken from deep ocean vents or in soil samples from human-made environments like active mineral mines. Environmental metagenomics study data are used for agricultural microbiome analysis, ecological remediation, or other biological investigations.
Environmental metagenomics as a field was extremely limited prior to the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS). NGS provides researchers the capability to profile entire microbial communities from complex samples, discover new organisms, and explore the dynamic nature of microbial populations under changing conditions.
Common NGS methods for environmental metagenomics studies include:
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers explore a microbe-cycling hypothesis with tree sloths and paired-end 16S amplicon sequencing.
Listen to Dr. Jack Gilbert discuss microbiology implications for home, hospital, and human (H3) interactions.
Shotgun metagenomic sequencing with the NextSeq 500 System provides insight into microbial responses to environmental changes in a water reservoir.
Researchers use NGS to identify and understand the constellation of microbes that deliver flavor to cheese and wine.
Our novel algorithmic approaches and data analysis solutions allow rapid, accurate de novo sequence assembly.
An epic ocean expedition sequenced salt water samples from around the globe to survey plankton diversity in marine ecosystems.