GAIA

GAIA performs taxonomic profiling and diversity analysis of microbial communities from 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, ITS and shotgun metagenomic data to characterize microbial composition across human, agricultural, and environmental samples.

Key Features:

• Supported data types: Supports analysis of 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, ITS regions, and shotgun metagenomics.
• Sample scope: Applies to human samples (e.g., stomach, skin), agricultural settings, and environmental contexts (land, water, organic waste).
• Accuracy and benchmarking: Benchmark comparisons on shotgun and 16S datasets report superior F-measures at the species level versus CLARK, Kraken, LMAT, BlastMegan, DiamondMegan, and NBC, and comparable performance to QIIME at the family level for 16S data.

Scientific Applications:

• Industrial processes: Identifies microbial diversity to inform optimization and monitoring of industrial bioprocesses.
• Environmental studies: Assesses microbial community composition for ecosystem monitoring and conservation across land, water, and organic waste.
• Clinical applications: Provides taxonomic profiles of human-associated microbiomes (e.g., stomach, skin) to support studies of health and disease.

Methodology:

Performs taxonomic profiling of sequencing reads from 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, ITS and shotgun metagenomics to generate community composition at specified taxonomic levels.