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Scientists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a method to isolate genes from amounts of microbial DNA so tiny that it would take 20,000 samples to weigh as much as a singl...

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Bacterial genes in microbial communities, including those that give resistance to antibiotics, are often so novel that sequencing-based approaches cannot predict their functions. Functional metagenomic libraries offer a high-throughput, sequence-naive solution to this problem, but their use is often held back due to their need for large quantities of metagenomic DNA. We demonstrate that our functional metagenomic library preparation method, METa assembly, can prepare these libraries using as little as ~30 ng of DNA, approximately 1,000-fold less than other methods. We use METa assembly to prepare functional metagenomic libraries from low-biomass aquatic and fecal swab microbiomes and show that they are home to novel tetracycline efflux pumps and a new family of streptothricin resistance gene, respectively. The efficiency of the METa assembly library preparation method makes many otherwise off-limits, low-biomass microbiome samples compatible with functional metagenomics.

I am thrilled that my METa assembly paper with collaborators @ericamhartmann and @alexmcfarland_ is online now at @mSystemsJ: https://t.co/Na6iDJTnYV We show that functional metagenomic libraries (FMLs) can be made using 20-fold less DNA and with 80-fold greater efficiency 1/n https://t.co/3MO7IgScNY

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Laboratory science requires careful maintenance of sterile reagents and tools as well as the sterilization of waste prior to disposal. However, steam autoclaves typically used for this purpose may not...