@article{e7c7439e93154ba1aa0c81177e5b444d,
title = "A communal catalogue reveals Earth's multiscale microbial diversity",
abstract = "Our growing awareness of the microbial world's importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth's microbial diversity.",
author = "Thompson, {Luke R.} and Sanders, {Jon G.} and Daniel McDonald and Amnon Amir and Joshua Ladau and Locey, {Kenneth J.} and Prill, {Robert J.} and Anupriya Tripathi and Gibbons, {Sean M.} and Gail Ackermann and Navas-Molina, {Jose A.} and Stefan Janssen and Evguenia Kopylova and Yoshiki V{\'a}zquez-Baeza and Antonio Gonz{\'a}lez and Morton, {James T.} and Siavash Mirarab and Xu, {Zhenjiang Zech} and Lingjing Jiang and Haroon, {Mohamed F.} and Jad Kanbar and Qiyun Zhu and Song, {Se Jin} and Tomasz Kosciolek and Bokulich, {Nicholas A.} and Joshua Lefler and Brislawn, {Colin J.} and Gregory Humphrey and Owens, {Sarah M.} and Jarrad Hampton-Marcell and Donna Berg-Lyons and Valerie McKenzie and Noah Fierer and Fuhrman, {Jed A.} and Aaron Clauset and Stevens, {Rick L.} and Ashley Shade and Pollard, {Katherine S.} and Goodwin, {Kelly D.} and Jansson, {Janet K.} and Gilbert, {Jack A.} and Rob Knight and {Agosto Rivera}, {Jose L.} and Lisa Al-Moosawi and John Alverdy and Amato, {Katherine R.} and Anders Karlsson and Peter Larsen and Ludovic Orlando and Eske Willerslev and {Earth Microbiome Project Consortium}",
year = "2017",
doi = "10.1038/nature24621",
language = "English",
volume = "551",
pages = "457--463",
journal = "Nature",
issn = "0028-0836",
publisher = "nature publishing group",
number = "7681",
}