Introducing mothur: Open-source, platform-independent, community-supported software for describing and comparing microbial communities

Patrick D. Schloss, Sarah L. Westcott, Thomas Ryabin, Justine R. Hall, Martin Hartmann, Emily B. Hollister, Ryan A. Lesniewski, Brian B. Oakley, Donovan H. Parks, Courtney J. Robinson, Jason W. Sahl, Blaz Stres, Gerhard G. Thallinger, David J. Van Horn, Carolyn F. Weber

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16479 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mothur aims to be a comprehensive software package that allows users to use a single piece of software to analyze community sequence data. It builds upon previous tools to provide a flexible and powerful software package for analyzing sequencing data. As a case study, we used mothur to trim, screen, and align sequences; calculate distances; assign sequences to operational taxonomic units; and describe the α and β diversity of eight marine samples previously characterized by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments. This analysis of more than 222,000 sequences was completed in less than 2 h with a laptop computer.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7537-7541
Number of pages5
JournalApplied and Environmental Microbiology
Volume75
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2009
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • Food Science
  • Biotechnology
  • Ecology

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