Publication Date:
2017-04-28
Description:
In a Technical Advance article, Porazinska et al. (2009, Molecular Ecology Resources, 9, 1439–1450) assessed next generation sequencing (NGS) as a method for metagenomic analysis of nematode diversity. We agree that NGS has great potential here. However, it is not an easy path to the successful implementation of NGS for environmental DNA analysis of nematodes. Here, we describe the method's limitations and discuss prospective research questions. For instance, only a few direct extraction kits are suitable for nematode DNA extraction from bulk samples without adaptation. They enable the analysis of extracellular nematode DNA. The most crucial and unresolved issue remains the limited availability of suitable primers. Our findings indicate that (1) only a few soil DNA kits are suitable to isolate nematode DNA from crude soil samples without adaptation, (2) environmental DNA is an appropriate source for nematode DNA, and (3) the so-far published primers are not sufficiently specific for nematode DNA analysis after direct extraction from bulk soil. We further present key questions for further research.
Electronic ISSN:
2045-7758
Topics:
Biology
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