New publication by Chengsheng Zhu and others

Functional sequencing read annotation for high precision microbiome analysis Chengsheng Zhu, Maximilian Miller, Srinayani Marpaka, Pavel Vaysberg, Malte C. Rühlemann, Guojun Wu Femke-Anouska Heinsen, Marie Tempel, Liping Zhao, Wolfgang Lieb Andre Franke, Yana Bromberg. Nucleic Acids Research, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx1209

The mi-faser microbiome analysis pipeline, combining faser with our manually curated reference database of protein functions, accurately annotates microbiome molecular functionality. mi-faser’s minutes-per-microbiome processing speed is significantly faster than that of other methods, allowing for large scale comparisons. Here, we identified previously unseen oil degradation-specific functions in BP oil-spill data, as well as functional signatures of individual-specific gut microbiome responses to a dietary intervention in children with Prader–Willi syndrome. Our method also revealed variability in Crohn’s Disease patient microbiomes and clearly distinguished them from those of related healthy individuals. Our analysis highlighted the microbiome role in CD pathogenicity, demonstrating enrichment of patient microbiomes in functions that promote inflammation and that help bacteria survive it.