New standard methods improve quality of microbiomics data

Published: 19-Jun-2016

The products help in obtaining accurate and unbiased data from sample collection to analysis


Zymo Research Corp. has introduced a suite of products that address workflow, from sample collection to data analysis, for microbiomics research. The rapid growth of the study of microbiomes has increased the demand for standard methods to improve the reproducibility and quality of the data being generated. Coupled with the recent announcement by the US White House about the formation of the National Microbiome Initiative (NMI) this demand should increase even further.

Biases inherently exist at every step of the microbiomic workflow, including collection, extraction, and sequencing techniques. Therefore, there is a great need for the adoption of reference materials and standard methods to identify and eliminate measurement bias. To solve that problem, Zymo Research has developed the ZymoBIOMICS workflow suite to aid researchers in obtaining the most accurate and unbiased data from sample collection to analysis.

The suite of products addresses the complete workflow from sample collection to DNA extraction, from library prep and sequencing through bioinformatics and analysis. Beginning with sample collection, bias can be eliminated using DNA/RNA Shield, which preserves nucleic acid samples for up to one month at room temperature while inactivating any pathogens present in the sample.

Community standards are run in parallel with the DNA extraction step. ZymoBIOMICS Microbial Community Standards contain three easy-to-lyse Gram-negative bacteria, five tough-to-lyse Gram-positive bacteria and two tough-to-lyse yeasts. These microbial standards contain less than 0.01% impurities and are accurately characterised, which enable the exposure of artifacts, errors and bias in microbiomics or metagenomics workflows, specifically 16S rRNA and shotgun sequencing.

In addition to the microbial standards, Zymo Research offers low-bioburden DNA isolation kits that have an innovative bead and buffer system. The Library Prep and sequencing workflow step is addressed with ZymoTaq, a low-bioburden polymerase and PCR prep-mix preparation. For bioinformatics and analysis, Zymo Research offers ZymoBIOMICS Services for 16S rRNA and metagenomic shotgun sequencing. Services include low-bioburden processing and accurate DNA/RNA isolation using the ZymoBIOMICS products for taxonomic profiling.

 

Trending Articles

You may also like