A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity

Thompson, Luke, Sanders, Jon, McDonald, Daniel, Amir, Amnon, Ladau, Joshua, Locey, Kenneth, Prill, Robert, Tripathi, Anupriya, Gibbons, Sean, Ackermann, Gail, Navas-Molina, Jose, Janssen, Stefan, Kopylova, Evguenia, Vázquez-Baeza, Yoshiki, González, Antonio, Morton, James, Mirarab, Siavash, Zech Xu, Zhenjiang, Jiang, Lingjing, Haroon, Mohamed F., Kanbar, Jad, Zhu, Qiyun, Song, Se Jin, Kosciolek, Tomasz, Bokulich, Nicholas, Lefler, Joshua, Brislawn, Colin, Humphrey, Gregory, Owens, Sarah, Hampton-Marcell, Jarrad, Berg-Lyons, Donna, McKenzie, Valerie, Fierer, Noah, Fuhrman, Jed, Clauset, Aaron, Stevens, Rick, Shade, Ashley, Pollard, Katherine, Goodwin, Kelly, Jansson, Janet, Gilbert, Jack, Knight, Robert and Quince, Christopher and The Earth Microbiome Project Consortium (2017) A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity. Nature, 551. 457–463. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

Our growing awareness of the microbial world’s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth’s microbial diversity.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	15 Nov 2017 06:06
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2023 09:37
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/65442
DOI:	10.1038/nature24621

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