Sequencing our way towards understanding global eukaryotic biodiversity

Holly M. Bik, Dorota L. Porazinska, Simon Creer, J. Gregory Caporaso, Rob Knight, W. Kelley Thomas

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

335 Scopus citations

Abstract

Microscopic eukaryotes are abundant, diverse and fill critical ecological roles across every ecosystem on Earth, yet there is a well-recognized gap in understanding of their global biodiversity. Fundamental advances in DNA sequencing and bioinformatics now allow accurate en masse biodiversity assessments of microscopic eukaryotes from environmental samples. Despite a promising outlook, the field of eukaryotic marker gene surveys faces significant challenges: how to generate data that are most useful to the community, especially in the face of evolving sequencing technologies and bioinformatics pipelines, and how to incorporate an expanding number of target genes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)233-243
Number of pages11
JournalTrends in Ecology and Evolution
Volume27
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2012

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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