Annotated bacterial chromosomes from frame-shift-corrected long-read metagenomic data

Abstract

Abstract Background Short-read sequencing technologies have long been the work-horse of microbiome analysis. Continuing technological advances are making the application of long-read sequencing to metagenomic samples increasingly feasible. Results We demonstrate that whole bacterial chromosomes can be obtained from an enriched community, by application of MinION sequencing to a sample from an EBPR bioreactor, producing 6 Gb of sequence that assembles into multiple closed bacterial chromosomes. We provide a simple pipeline for processing such data, which includes a new approach to correcting erroneous frame-shifts. Conclusions Advances in long-read sequencing technology and corresponding algorithms will allow the routine extraction of whole chromosomes from environmental samples, providing a more detailed picture of individual members of a microbiome.

Keywords

• Microbiome
• Long-read sequencing
• Microbial genomics
• Sequence assembly
• Frame-shifts
• Algorithms