Why is the microbiome important?
Over the past two decades, there has been a large focus within the scientific community on understanding the microbiome and its role in human health and disease. Research on these complex microbial communities and their genomes has already uncovered a wealth of knowledge on the role of microorganisms in modulating immunity, aiding in digestion, synthesizing amino acids and vitamins, and protecting against pathogens.1-3 Imbalances in these microbial communities—known as dysbiosis—can lead to the development of neurodegenerative, metabolic, autoimmune, and gastrointestinal diseases, among others.4,5
The important role of the microbiome doesn’t just stop at the human body. Within the environment, plant-microbiome interactions have been found to affect plant growth, fitness, and productivity.6,7 Recent research on these interactions has led to a better understanding on how different plant species can benefit from microbial strains, which has provided valuable insight into ways to use the microbiome to enhance crop production.6
Though much has already been discovered, researchers are just beginning to scratch the surface on understanding the full significance of the microbiome and its complex interactions with humans, animals, and plants. With the right tools, researchers can continue working to better understand these interactions to identify ways we can modulate microbiome communities to improve areas such as health, crop productivity, and environmental sustainability.
How ATCC supports microbiome research
As scientists move toward metagenomics-based approaches for analyzing microbiomes, they will be challenged with managing large data sets and making meaningful insights. Optimization at each step of the analytical process using authenticated standards is therefore essential for ensuring the validity and reproducibility of resulting data.
To meet this need, ATCC worked with key opinion leaders in microbiome research to develop 24 fully sequenced, characterized, and traceable mock microbial communities that support each stage of the next-generation sequencing (NGS) workflow. Our NGS standards are available in a variety of formats and levels of complexity to help challenge the standardization process:
- Whole cell and nucleic acid mixes
- Even or staggered gDNA abundance
- Low, medium, or high levels of complexity
- 3 to 20 strains per mix
- Variety of microbe mixes, including recombinant spike-in standards
In celebration of World Microbiome Day, we are offering 20% off our NGS standards.* Use promo code ATCC-000024 at checkout to take advantage of this special discount. This offer is effective from June 27-July 31, 2023, so place your order before time runs out!
*This online-only offer is effective from June 27 – July 31, 2023. The 20% discount applies only to ATCC NGS Standards; all other items are excluded from this promotion. For non-profit customers, the promotional discount is applied to the customer-specific pricing. The promo code must be applied at the time of checkout. The promo code must be applied in the “Promotional code” field in the shopping cart. U.S. customers only. Void where prohibited. Restrictions may apply. Limit 20 vials.
Did you know?
Our microbial portfolio includes fully authenticated strains that were isolated as part of the Human Microbiome Project.
Meet the author
Cara Wilder, PhD, ELS
Senior Scientific Writer, ATCC
Dr. Wilder is a Senior Scientific Writer at ATCC. She has a PhD in Microbiology with background experience working with several pathogenic bacterial species in both in vitro and in vivo environments. Dr. Wilder is the author of numerous publications on varying topics of scientific relevance, including quality control, microbial contamination, assay development, proficiency testing, and multidrug resistance.
Check out our data on NGS Standards
Application note
Use of Recombinant Bacteria with Unique Tags as Spike-in Controls for Microbiome Studies
In this application note, we describe the construction and application of ATCC Spike-in Standards as a tool for quantitative metagenomic analysis.
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Application note
Development and Evaluation of Next-generation Sequencing Standards for Virome Research
In this study, we describe the development and quality control of the ATCC virome standards and present application data demonstrating their use throughout the different stages of a typical virome analysis workflow.
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Application note
Development and Evaluation of Whole Cell- and Genomic DNA-based NGS Standards
In this study, we demonstrate that ATCC NGS Standards combined with the One Codex data analysis module provide a comprehensive solution for standardizing data from a wide range of sources, and generating consensus among microbiome applications and analyses.
MoreReferences
- Hansen NW, Sams A. The Microbiotic Highway to Health—New Perspective on Food Structure, Gut Microbiota, and Host Inflammation. Nutrients 10(11): 1590, 2018. PubMed: 30380701
- Oliphant K, Allen-Vercoe E. Macronutrient metabolism by the human gut microbiome: major fermentation by-products and their impact on host health. Microbiom 7(1): 91, 2019. PubMed: 31196177
- Zheng D, Liwinski T, Elinav E. Interaction between microbiota and immunity in health and disease. Cell Research 30: 492-506, 2020. PubMed: 32433595
- Chen Y, Zhou J, Wang L. Role and Mechanism of Gut Microbiota in Human Disease. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 11: 625913, 2021. PubMed: 33816335
- Shaheen WA, Quraishi MN, Iqbal TH. Gut microbiome and autoimmune disorders. Clin Exp Immunol 209(2): 161-174, 2022. PubMed: 35652460
- Gupta R, et al. Plant–microbiome interactions for sustainable agriculture: a review. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 27(1): 165-179, 2021. PubMed: 33627969
- Compant S, et al. A review on the plant microbiome: Ecology, functions, and emerging trends in microbial application. J Adv Res 19: 29-37, 2019. PubMed: 31341667
