We offer both shotgun and amplicon sequencing services. For any study, the choice of sequencing technique will depend on the sample type, the study design, and the aim of the study.
Shotgun metagenomic sequencing involves the sequencing of all DNA present in a sample. The microbial DNA is randomly broken into small fragments, which are sequenced, and mapped to our reference catalogues (e. g. our human microbiome reference) or assembled based on sequence overlap and binned into genomes. Shotgun data allows for the most comprehensive and highest resolution analysis of the microbiome.
Our CSO, H. Bjørn Nielsen has been pioneering the de novo identification and microbiome profiling using shotgun metagenomic data, and in collaboration with many international researchers, he contributed to a series of advancement of microbiome profiling and analysis. ¹
Amplicon sequencing is a targeted approach that focuses on sequencing a specific region of the microbial genome – most commonly, the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, which is present in all bacteria and archaea. The amplified region is typically short, at around 300-600 base pairs, and since it varies in different taxonomic groups it allows for the classification of bacteria at the genus and sometimes species level.
The mycobiota, the fungal gut microbiota, can be profiled by targeting the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of the fungal genome.
Read more about our bioinformatic tools for maximizing insights from your data or contact us to discuss which microbiome analysis technique is better suited to your unique study.
