16S rRNA VS. Metatranscriptome Sequencing in Microbiome Testing
Dec
27
16S rRNA gene sequencing tracks a small portion of the prokaryotic 16S ribosomal RNA gen, but does not measure the biochemical functions of the microorganisms or distinguish living from dead organisms. It also excludes some bacteria, most archaea, and all eukaryotic organisms and viruses, resulting in a limited view of the gut microbiome ecosystem, according to the October 1 2019 report, "A Robust Metatranscriptomic Technology for Population-Scale Studies of Diet, Gut Microbiome, and Human Health" in the International Journal of Genomics (Volume 2019, Article ID 171874 about Viome Inc., Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA).
Metatranscriptomic analysis (metatranscriptomics, RNA sequencing, and RNAseq) offers insights into what the gut microbiome are actually doing and why and how they are doing it. Viomega can make classifications based on a database of 110,000 microbial genomes, and quantitative microbial gene expression analysis using a database of 100 million microbial genes. "The biochemical activities of the gut microbiome by quantifying expression levels of active microbial genes, allowing for the assessment of pathway activities, while also providing strain-level taxonomic resolution for all metabolically active organisms and viruses," says the report. Viome's Viomega now makes this process affordable as well for the first time.
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