Microbiome & Metagenomics Analysis
Microbiome & metagenomics
Review microbial sequence data with methods matched to the assay, sequencing technology and study design.
Questions to discuss
- How do community composition and diversity vary among samples?
- Which taxonomic assignments are supported by the data and reference database?
- Which comparisons are justified by the biological sampling design?
Input for review
- Amplicon or shotgun assay, platform, marker region if applicable, and organism/environment context.
- Read files and processing history; sample metadata and available negative or positive controls.
- Experimental groups, biological units, pooling, collection sites and batches where relevant.
Analysis planning
- Review read quality, assay requirements and controls.
- Agree on taxonomic/reference methods appropriate to the technology.
- Summarize composition and diversity at justified resolution.
- Assess comparative analyses with sampling and compositionality in mind.
Reporting options
- Quality summaries, taxonomic profiles and composition figures.
- Diversity summaries and agreed comparisons.
- Reference-database details, settings and interpretation notes.
Interpretation
One pooled library per condition supports descriptive comparison, not a replicated group-level test. Relative abundance is not a direct measure of absolute microbial load.