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1: Science. 2005 Apr 22;308(5721):554-7.
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Comparative metagenomics of microbial communities.

Tringe SG, von Mering C, Kobayashi A, Salamov AA, Chen K, Chang HW, Podar M, Short JM, Mathur EJ, Detter JC, Bork P, Hugenholtz P, Rubin EM.

Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA.

The species complexity of microbial communities and challenges in culturing representative isolates make it difficult to obtain assembled genomes. Here we characterize and compare the metabolic capabilities of terrestrial and marine microbial communities using largely unassembled sequence data obtained by shotgun sequencing DNA isolated from the various environments. Quantitative gene content analysis reveals habitat-specific fingerprints that reflect known characteristics of the sampled environments. The identification of environment-specific genes through a gene-centric comparative analysis presents new opportunities for interpreting and diagnosing environments.

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PMID: 15845853 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]