Metatranscriptomics

Metatranscriptomics

While metagenomics reveals which microbes are present and what potential they have, metatranscriptomics disclose their activity by identifying genes that are expressed in a particular microbial environment.

Unbiased RNA-seq enables annotation and quantification of transcripts giving:

• insights in the gene activity diversity and functional/pathway diversity by detecting how many genes are expressed in a community across all species
• estimates of gene expression abundances - detects the highest expressed genes in a specific environmental condition, thus identifying the most important functionality/pathway required to survive. Note that high sequencing depth is required to detect lower expressed genes
• opportunity for biomarker discovery by performing a differential gene expression analysis, i.e. assessing changes in expression levels between different conditions

Ribosomal RNA depletion is performed for the efficient use of RNA-seq capacity for all samples. Upon depletion, cDNA library is synthesized, samples are index barcoded and pooled for sequencing. Bioinformatics analysis is directed to determin relative abundance of transcripts/enzymes and pathways for each community. Novel transcripts are assembled and differential expression analysis of different communities is performed in order to identify differentially represented pathways across experimental groups.

For all applications final results are delivered in a comprehensive report in addition to raw data and summary of the methods followed. We provide full support on study design to ensure correct sequencing and bioinformatics strategies are used to meet your project goals. Our expert will consult with you about your specific requirements. Sample DNA extraction can be part of our workflow.