Identification of low abundance microbiome in clinical samples using whole genome sequencing

Genome Biol. 2015 Nov 27:16:265. doi: 10.1186/s13059-015-0821-z.

Abstract

Identifying the microbiome composition from primary tissues directly affords an opportunity to study the causative relationships between the host microbiome and disease. However, this is challenging due the low abundance of microbial DNA relative to the host. We present a systematic evaluation of microbiome profiling directly from endoscopic biopsies by whole genome sequencing. We compared our methods with other approaches on datasets with previously identified microbial composition. We applied this approach to identify the microbiome from 27 stomach biopsies, and validated the presence of Helicobacter pylori by quantitative PCR. Finally, we profiled the microbial composition in The Cancer Genome Atlas gastric adenocarcinoma cohort.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biopsy
  • Genome, Human*
  • HapMap Project
  • Helicobacter pylori / genetics*
  • Helicobacter pylori / isolation & purification
  • Helicobacter pylori / pathogenicity
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Humans
  • Microbiota / genetics*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / microbiology
  • Stomach Neoplasms / pathology