AN ILLUSTRATIVE VIEW OF THE GUT MICROBIOME
Microbiome Testing
Metagenomics
Shotgun Sequencing
Shotgun sequencing involves the entire genome being broken up into small fragments of DNA for sequencing.
Sequenced fragments are then assembled together by computer programs that find where fragments overlap.
Results allow for evaluation of bacterial diversity and measurement of the abundance of bacteria in the sample.
16S rRNA Sequencing
The 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene is a sequence of DNA found exclusively in all bacteria. This makes it a good target to identify the microbiome of only bacteria from a sample. In most cases, a faeces sample is used.
Results from this method allow us to identify the phylogeny and taxonomy of the bacteria present.
Metatranscriptomics
Microbial Transcriptomics
This technique targets the RNA encoded by a microbiome.
It allows for the annotation and quantification of functional genes expressed by bacteria.
Bacterial RNA is extracted from a sample and converted to DNA. This DNA is then compared to reference databases to identify the functional gene that is being expressed.
This technique allows us to identify changes in the gut microbiome expression between disease states.