MicrobioSee: A Web-Based Visualization Toolkit for Multi-Omics of Microbiology

Front Genet. 2022 Apr 8:13:853612. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.853612. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

With the upgrade and development of the high-throughput sequencing technology, multi-omics data can be obtained at a low cost. However, mapping tools that existed for microbial multi-omics data analysis cannot satisfy the needs of data description and result in high learning costs, complex dependencies, and high fees for researchers in experimental biology fields. Therefore, developing a toolkit for multi-omics data is essential for microbiologists to save effort. In this work, we developed MicrobioSee, a real-time interactive visualization tool based on web technologies, which could visualize microbial multi-omics data. It includes 17 modules surrounding the major omics data of microorganisms such as the transcriptome, metagenome, and proteome. With MicrobioSee, methods for plotting are simplified in multi-omics studies, such as visualization of diversity, ROC, and enrichment pathways for DEGs. Subsequently, three case studies were chosen to represent the functional application of MicrobioSee. Overall, we provided a concise toolkit along with user-friendly, time-saving, cross-platform, and source-opening for researchers, especially microbiologists without coding experience. MicrobioSee is freely available at https://microbiosee.gxu.edu.cn.

Keywords: MicrobioSee; integration analysis; metagenome; stacked column chart; visualization toolkit.