Whole Metagenomic Profiling Using Shotgun Sequencing

Shotgun metagenomic sequencing is currently the only method to analyze whole microbial communities in various environments, widely used for taxonomic profiling and functional analysis of microbial communities. Equipped with the powerful sequencing technique and extensive experience in microbial community analysis, Creative Biolabs offers one-stop shotgun metagenomic sequencing services with high coverage and high resolution to support comprehensive analysis of microbial community biodiversity and function.

Introduction of Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing

Shotgun metagenomic sequencing is used to all microbial genomes without prior knowledge of the community in a given complex sample. The sequencing process is simply summarized as follows: the DNA isolated from a sample is cut into smaller pieces and subsequently sequenced using NGS. This technique is widely used to evaluate bacterial diversity and detect the abundance of microbes in various environments. Compared to 16S rRNA sequencing, shotgun sequencing targets the entirety of the microbial genetic information contained in an environmental sample, including viruses and fungi that cannot be detected through 16S sequencing. Besides, shotgun sequencing is less susceptible to the biases inherent in targeted gene amplification. These features enable shotgun sequencing more accurate in the determination of the relative abundances of different organisms. In addition to these advantages, shotgun sequencing allows the detection of very low abundance members of the microbial community that maybe not detected using traditional methods.

Basic Workflow

Fig.1 Basic workflow of metagenomic shotgun sequencing.

Our Capacities

Our professional scientists have accumulated rich experience in shotgun metagenomic sequencing. We offer a high-quality and low-cost, one-stop metagenomic sequencing service including genomic DNA extraction, library preparation, sequencing with an Illumina HiSeq PE150 platform, and bioinformatic analysis. Our standard analysis package includes date quality control, De novo assembly, gene functional annotation, and comparative analysis between various samples. Our advanced analysis package includes MRPP, ANOSIM, NMDS (Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling), CCA/RAD, and LEfSe (LDA Effect Size), and so on. We aim to deliver accurate and reliable data to help our clients analyze microbial community biodiversity and function from a variety of samples.

Our Advantages

• Rich experience in metagenomic sequencing
• High-quality sequencing (with Q30 score≥85% and at least 5-10 Gb raw data per sample)
• An efficient standard workflow
• A cost-effective bioinformatics analysis
• Reliable data delivery

Sample Requirements

• Samples sources including feces, natural environments, as well as DNA samples
• DNA samples (amount≥200 ng; concentration≥10 ng/μl; purity: OD260/280=1.8~2.0; without degradation and RNA or protein contamination)
• Repeated freezing-thawing should be avoided during the storage of samples
• Transport on dry ice

If you are interested in shotgun metagenomic sequencing services, please feel free to contact us for more details.

For Research Use Only. Not intended for use in food manufacturing or medical procedures (diagnostics or therapeutics). Do Not Use in Humans.