TY - JOUR T1 - A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity JF - Nature Y1 - 2017 A1 - Thompson, Luke R. A1 - Sanders, Jon G. A1 - McDonald, Daniel A1 - Amir, Amnon A1 - Ladau, Joshua A1 - Locey, Kenneth J. A1 - Prill, Robert J. A1 - Tripathi, Anupriya A1 - Gibbons, Sean M. A1 - Ackermann, Gail A1 - Navas-Molina, Jose A. A1 - Janssen, Stefan A1 - Kopylova, Evguenia A1 - Vázquez-Baeza, Yoshiki A1 - Antonio González A1 - Morton, James T. A1 - Mirarab, Siavash A1 - Zech Xu, Zhenjiang A1 - Jiang, Lingjing A1 - Haroon, Mohamed F. A1 - Kanbar, Jad A1 - Zhu, Qiyun A1 - Jin Song, Se A1 - Kosciolek, Tomasz A1 - Bokulich, Nicholas A. A1 - Lefler, Joshua A1 - Brislawn, Colin J. A1 - Humphrey, Gregory A1 - Owens, Sarah M. A1 - Hampton-Marcell, Jarrad A1 - Berg-Lyons, Donna A1 - McKenzie, Valerie A1 - Noah Fierer A1 - Fuhrman, Jed A. A1 - Clauset, Aaron A1 - Stevens, Rick L. A1 - Shade, Ashley A1 - Pollard, Katherine S. A1 - Goodwin, Kelly D. A1 - Jansson, Janet K. A1 - Gilbert, Jack A. A1 - Knight, Rob A1 - The Earth Microbiome Project Consortium AB -

Our growing awareness of the microbial world’s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth’s microbial diversity.

VL - 551 UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24621 ER -