Primer selection impacts the evaluation of microecological patterns in environmental microbiomes
Jintao He, Tong Zhou, Xiaoqiang Shen, Nan Zhang, Chao Sun, Shipeng Lu, Yongqi Shao
Abstract
This study revealed that primer selection substantially influences the taxonomic and predicted functional composition and the characterization of microecological patterns, which was not alleviated by close-reference clustering. Biases were relatively consistent across different habitats in community profiling but not in microecological patterns. These primer biases could be attributed to multiple aspects, including taxa specificity, regional hypervariability, and amplification efficiency.
Topics & Concepts
MicrobiomePrimer (cosmetics)Selection (genetic algorithm)Computational biologyBiologyEvolutionary biologyGeneticsComputer scienceArtificial intelligenceChemistryOrganic chemistryMicrobial Community Ecology and PhysiologyGut microbiota and healthProbiotics and Fermented Foods