Summary
Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies have greatly expanded the field of metagenomics (also referred to as community genomics, or environmental genomics), giving researchers better tools to study genetic material from environmental or microbiome samples without cultivating cultures. There are several approaches, applications, and goals within the field of Metagenomics; an important and rapidly growing one is the use of targeted amplicon sequencing to understand the diversity of community samples.
The targeted amplicon approach involves sequencing a phylogenetically informative marker to identify organisms in community samples. The marker used should be present in all of the expected organisms, and, conserved such that the primers can amplify genes from a wide range of individuals but variable enough to offer resolution that is taxonomically useful. A number of different markers are commonly used and of course vary by taxa of interest, but the most commonly used is the 16S rRNA gene for bacterial samples, the 18S for eukaryotes, and ITS for fungal samples.
GGBC uses a targeted amplicon sequencing protocol for Illumina platforms that is simple, cost-effective, and produces good data. In short, the library preparation process involves two PCR steps. The first round of PCR uses target specific primers with overhang sequences to amplify the selected marker and allow for barcoding. In the second round of PCR, Illumina compatible barcodes are added to each amplicon.
GGBC has successfully worked on projects with several different target markers, primers, and types/qualities of samples.
There are several references listed below for further reading and information both on our specific protocol and metagenomics as a whole.