Patrick D. Schloss

TL;DR: M mothur is used as a case study to trim, screen, and align sequences; calculate distances; assign sequences to operational taxonomic units; and describe the α and β diversity of eight marine samples previously characterized by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments.

TL;DR: The Human Microbiome Project Consortium reported the first results of their analysis of microbial communities from distinct, clinically relevant body habitats in a human cohort; the insights into the microbial communities of a healthy population lay foundations for future exploration of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: The Human Microbiome Project has analysed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats so far, finding the diversity and abundance of each habitat’s signature microbes to vary widely even among healthy subjects, with strong niche specialization both within and among individuals.

TL;DR: This work presents an improved method for sequencing variable regions within the 16S rRNA gene using Illumina's MiSeq platform, which is currently capable of producing paired 250-nucleotide reads and demonstrates that it can provide data that are at least as good as that generated by the 454 platform while providing considerably higher sequencing coverage for a fraction of the cost.

TL;DR: A computer program, DOTUR, is developed, which assigns sequences to OTUs by using either the furthest, average, or nearest neighbor algorithm for each distance level, which addresses the challenge of assigning sequences to operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on the genetic distances between sequences.