Core Facility Mikrobiome

The Core Facility Microbiome offers a modern research platform in the field of high-throughput sequencing. Expertise ranges from the identification of individual bacterial strains, to the composition of a complex bacterial community, to targeted studies of functionality of individual bacteria or communities in a host organism or other habitats.

Bacterial diversity and composition can be readily assessed in biological samples using sequencing. This is usually based on the 16S rRNA gene. By determining the base sequence from a sample, the composition of the individual microbial communities can be inferred. The data set is generated using Illumina technology and analyzed using bioinformatics programs developed in-house (https://www.imngs.org/). The composition of the microbiota can then be further investigated from a functional point of view. For example, is the presence or absence of certain bacteria linked to functional gains or losses, or are certain metabolites produced?

Other methods, such as sequencing of individual bacterial genomes, sequencing of transcripts (RNAseq), or sequencing of actively translated mRNA (RIBOseq) are available for further identification of regulatory pathways and active genes.