Comparative Analysis of Functional Metagenomic Annotation and the Mappability of Short Reads (by Rogan Carr and Elhanan Borenstein)

We’d like to first thank Jon for the opportunity to discuss our work in this forum. We recently published a study investigating direct functional annotation of short metagenomic reads that stemmed from protocol development for our lab. Jon invited us to write a blog post on the subject, and we thought it would be a …

Estimating average genome size from metagenomes

We recently submitted a paper to biorxiv on the estimation of average genome size from shotgun metagenomics data and it’s application to the human microbiome (http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2014/09/11/009001.full.pdf). It is currently undergoing peer review. This study was motivated by the troubling observation that many universal single-copy genes appear to vary significantly across metagenomes. How can this be? …

For those interested in metagenomics — a mash-up from The Scientist

Some interesting things in this post from Kelly Rae Chi at the Scientist: Metagenomics Mash-Up.  It includes a discussion of metagenomics generally and then some metagenomic tools including MEGAN5, Kraken, MG-RAST, Metavir, and HI-C.  The section on HI-C discusses the work of Chris Beitel in my lab.  If you are doing metagenomic analysis or considering it or …

A really important technique for metagenomic studies: stable isotope probing

Another really interesting microbial diversity paper in mBio.  This one is from Josh Neufeld and colleagues: Multisubstrate Isotope Labeling and Metagenomic Analysis of Active Soil Bacterial Communities. The key thing they did is summarized in their abstract: We incubated samples from three disparate Canadian soils (tundra, temperate rainforest, and agricultural) with five native carbon (12C) or …

Job: Postdoctoral Position in Environmental Metagenomics of Municipal Water Distribution Systems w/ Norman Pace

Postdoctoral Position in Environmental Metagenomics, Norman Pace Lab, Boulder, CO Available September 1, 2012, three years appointment, NIH salary grades. A three-year Research Associate position is available for participation with a team studying the microbial metagenomics of municipal water distribution systems. Although seemingly a mundane setting, little is known about the microbiology of municipal drinking …

New books coming out on #metagenomics; >130 chapters; but not TMI

For those interested in microbial diversity and/or metagenomics there are two volumes that are coming out soon that are of interest: Handbook of Molecular Microbial Ecology I: Metagenomics and Complementary Approaches. Handbook of Molecular Microbial Ecology II: Metagenomics in Different Habitats Edited by Frans J. de Bruijn these two volumes are the most comprehensive coverage …