How do you identify an unknown microbe? If you’ve taken an introductory microbiology lab course in the past twenty years, chances are you were assigned an unknown bacterium that you had to identify through differential media and biochemical assays. Newer techniques like qPCR are being standardized to identify human-associated fecal bacteria for water safety surveillance. But in the wake of the next-generation sequencing revolution, there is no substitute for whole-genome sequencing as a method to pinpoint the exact strain of an unknown microbial species. As NGS technology has advanced, sequencing costs have decreased and applications of the technology have broadened.
No matter the sequencing methodology or extent, nucleotide sequence alone will not supplant the need for experimental data to associate ecological and phenotypic data to the accumulated genetic information, Garrity writes. This holds true regardless of sequencing purpose: factors such as expression level, mRNA or protein turnover, and cofactor presence are necessary to know how a given DNA sequence affects the biology of an organism.
Eurofin’s can undertake Genomic Sequencing at several locations around the world
Eurofins Genomics – Europe
sales@eurofins.co.uk for UK Information
FoodWorld 