SmashCommunity

SmashCommunity performs annotation and quantitative analysis of metagenomic datasets to characterize the phylogenetic and functional composition of microbial communities from Sanger and 454 sequencing.

Key Features:

• Sequencing technology compatibility: Supports metagenomic data derived from Sanger and 454 sequencing platforms.
• Assembly and gene prediction integration: Assembles sequencing reads into contigs and predicts genes within those contigs.
• Quantitative phylogenetic and functional profiling: Estimates phylogenetic composition and functional content of metagenomes quantitatively.
• Comparative metagenomics: Compares compositional profiles across multiple metagenomic datasets.
• Visualization of results: Produces visual representations of metagenomic composition and functional annotations.

Scientific Applications:

• Environmental microbiology: Characterizing microbial community structure and function in environmental samples.
• Human microbiome studies: Profiling phylogenetic and functional composition of human-associated microbial communities.
• Biotechnology applications: Assessing microbial community composition and functional potential relevant to biotechnology contexts.

Methodology:

Sequencing reads are assembled into contigs, genes are predicted on contigs, phylogenetic and functional profiles are estimated, and metagenomic datasets are compared for compositional differences.