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MICROBIOME

Microbiome genome structure drives function

Nature Microbiology volume 4, pages 912–913 (2019)Cite this article

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Differences in microbial genomes can result in vastly different phenotypes and functions. Consequently, it is critical to understand the genome variations that differentiate microbial strains. Here, we discuss recent exciting advances that enable structural variant measurement, their associated phenotypes and the horizon for future discovery.

The microbiome field has quickly progressed from 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing, providing insight into the taxonomic composition of a community based on a single gene, to deep metagenomic sequencing — the simultaneous sequencing of multiple microbial genomes in a complex community, which generates a wealth of genetic data describing complex communities. Taking full advantage of these data presents technical challenges, but the main hurdle to making the most of these rich datasets can be our own creativity and determination to maximize what we can learn from them.

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Fig. 1: Structural variation in the gut microbiome.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Matthew G. Durrant & Ami S. Bhatt

  2. Division of Hematology, Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ami S. Bhatt

Authors
  1. Matthew G. Durrant
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  2. Ami S. Bhatt
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Correspondence to Ami S. Bhatt.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Durrant, M.G., Bhatt, A.S. Microbiome genome structure drives function. Nat Microbiol 4, 912–913 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0473-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0473-y

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