Single-cell technologies in environmental omics

Rimantas Kodzius; Takashi Gojobori

doi:10.1016/j.gene.2015.10.031

Single-cell technologies in environmental omics

Gene. 2016 Feb 1;576(2 Pt 1):701-7. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2015.10.031. Epub 2015 Oct 22.

Authors

Rimantas Kodzius¹, Takashi Gojobori²

Affiliations

¹ King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division (CEMSE), Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: Rimantas.Kodzius@kaust.edu.sa.
² King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division (BESE), Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: Takashi.Gojobori@kaust.edu.sa.

PMID: 26474748
DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2015.10.031

Abstract

Environmental studies are primarily done by culturing isolated microorganisms or by amplifying and sequencing conserved genes. Difficulties understanding the complexity of large numbers of various microorganisms in an environment led to the development of techniques to enrich specific microorganisms for upstream analysis, ultimately leading to single-cell isolation and analyses. We discuss the significance of single-cell technologies in omics studies with focus on metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. We propose that by reducing sample heterogeneity using single-cell genomics, metaomic studies can be simplified.

Keywords: FACS; Heterogeneity; Metagenomics; Microdroplet; Sequencing.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Genomics*
Single-Cell Analysis*
Transcriptome*