Soil Metatranscriptomics
Yongkyu Kim, Carl-Eric Wegner and Werner Liesack
from: Omics in Soil Science (Edited by: Paolo Nannipieri, Giacomo Pietramellara and Giancarlo Renella). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2014)
Abstract
Metatranscriptomics is defined as the analysis of microbial community gene expression in a particular environment, as opposed to metagenomics which is the study of the genomic content of entire microbial communities. Massively parallel sequencing of RNA is the key component of metatranscriptomics. The analysis of enriched mRNA has the potential to discover novel genes and to uncover functional adaptations of microbial communities to local environmental conditions. Alternatively, total RNA may be used for analysis. This approach provides insight into the taxonomic composition of microbial communities. The subject of this review is soil metatranscriptomics. We discuss the experimental and bioinformatic workflow that can be applied to the metatranscriptomic analysis of soil microbial communities. Since research in the field of soil metatranscriptomics is still in its infancy, we also review the recent advances in marine metatranscriptomics read more ...
