In Nature, There Is Only Diversity

ABSTRACT Microbial ecology has been transformed by the advent of high-throughput marker gene and metagenomic sequencing methods. These tools provide expansive descriptions of microbial communities, but the descriptions are framed in terms of molecular objects, such as 97% ribosomal operational taxon...

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Autores principales:	Michael R. McLaren, Benjamin J. Callahan
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2018
Materias:	metagenomics microbial ecology microbiome Microbiology QR1-502
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/df24e54c4f68402abdcabd3f36dfe8a5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:df24e54c4f68402abdcabd3f36dfe8a52021-11-15T15:53:26ZIn Nature, There Is Only Diversity10.1128/mBio.02149-172150-7511https://doaj.org/article/df24e54c4f68402abdcabd3f36dfe8a52018-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.02149-17https://doaj.org/toc/2150-7511ABSTRACT Microbial ecology has been transformed by the advent of high-throughput marker gene and metagenomic sequencing methods. These tools provide expansive descriptions of microbial communities, but the descriptions are framed in terms of molecular objects, such as 97% ribosomal operational taxonomic units (OTUs), rather than biological objects, such as species. A recent study by A. B. Chase and colleagues (mBio 8:e01809-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01809-17) explores the so-called microdiversity within the Curtobacterium OTU, the most abundant OTU in a leaf litter community. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they find that some important ecologic traits, such as drought response, are coherent within the OTU, but that others vary significantly. Here we discuss their findings in relation to the more general issue of how molecular tools can be effectively used to study microbial ecology. We specifically note the need for investigators to choose the right molecular methods for their biological problem, as nature does not respect the limitations and conventions associated with our methods.Michael R. McLarenBenjamin J. CallahanAmerican Society for Microbiologyarticlemetagenomicsmicrobial ecologymicrobiomeMicrobiologyQR1-502ENmBio, Vol 9, Iss 1 (2018)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	metagenomics microbial ecology microbiome Microbiology QR1-502
spellingShingle	metagenomics microbial ecology microbiome Microbiology QR1-502 Michael R. McLaren Benjamin J. Callahan In Nature, There Is Only Diversity
description	ABSTRACT Microbial ecology has been transformed by the advent of high-throughput marker gene and metagenomic sequencing methods. These tools provide expansive descriptions of microbial communities, but the descriptions are framed in terms of molecular objects, such as 97% ribosomal operational taxonomic units (OTUs), rather than biological objects, such as species. A recent study by A. B. Chase and colleagues (mBio 8:e01809-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01809-17) explores the so-called microdiversity within the Curtobacterium OTU, the most abundant OTU in a leaf litter community. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they find that some important ecologic traits, such as drought response, are coherent within the OTU, but that others vary significantly. Here we discuss their findings in relation to the more general issue of how molecular tools can be effectively used to study microbial ecology. We specifically note the need for investigators to choose the right molecular methods for their biological problem, as nature does not respect the limitations and conventions associated with our methods.
format	article
author	Michael R. McLaren Benjamin J. Callahan
author_facet	Michael R. McLaren Benjamin J. Callahan
author_sort	Michael R. McLaren
title	In Nature, There Is Only Diversity
title_short	In Nature, There Is Only Diversity
title_full	In Nature, There Is Only Diversity
title_fullStr	In Nature, There Is Only Diversity
title_full_unstemmed	In Nature, There Is Only Diversity
title_sort	in nature, there is only diversity
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2018
url	https://doaj.org/article/df24e54c4f68402abdcabd3f36dfe8a5
work_keys_str_mv	AT michaelrmclaren innaturethereisonlydiversity AT benjaminjcallahan innaturethereisonlydiversity
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In Nature, There Is Only Diversity

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