expam

expam identifies biologically relevant clades from shotgun metagenomic sequencing data using a tree-based, taxonomy-agnostic approach to reveal functional relationships within microbial communities.

Key Features:

• Tree-Based Analysis: expam constructs and analyzes phylogenetic trees to group sequences into clades based on genetic similarity.
• Taxonomy-Agnostic Clade Identification: expam detects biologically relevant clades without relying on predefined taxonomic classifications to expose functional relationships.
• Shotgun Metagenomic Input: expam leverages shotgun metagenomic sequencing data as the basis for inferring genetic relationships among sequences.

Scientific Applications:

• Microbial Community Analysis: expam supports high-resolution investigation of microbial community structure and dynamics by identifying clades that reflect genetic and functional groupings.
• Functional Metagenomics: expam enables discovery of functionally relevant groups within microbial consortia to inform studies of community capabilities and ecological roles.

Methodology:

expam uses shotgun metagenomic sequencing data to construct phylogenetic trees representing genetic relationships among sequences and analyzes those trees to identify biologically relevant clades.