Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology are working on developing an easy technique that will allow the facilitated analysis of microbes. The technique, known as phyloFlash, allows “full-cycle rRNA approach”.
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"This software called phyloFlash, which is freely available through GitHub, combines the full-cycle rRNA approach for identification and visualization of non-cultivated microorganisms with metagenomic analysis; both techniques are well established at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen," explains Harald Gruber-Vodicka, who chiefly developed the method. "phyloFlash comprises all necessary steps, from the preparation of the necessary genome database (in this case SILVA), data extraction and taxonomic classification, through assembly, to the linking of SSU rRNA sequences and MAGs."
The phyloFlash software is available at GitHub: https://github.com/HRGV/phyloFlash. A long with the manual: https://hrgv.github.io/phyloFlash/. The software allows for studies on simple microbial communities.
"For example, we do a lot of research on the deep-sea mussel Bathymodiolus, which is home to several bacterial subtenants," says Gruber-Vodicka. "With the help of this well-studied community, we were able to test whether and how reliably phyloFlash works."
"These exciting glimpses underline the great potential of our simple and fast method," Gruber-Vodicka points out.
Source: Science Daily