Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29762668›Full record

ArticleGigaScience2018

Benchmarking taxonomic assignments based on 16S rRNA gene profiling of the microbiota from commonly sampled environments.

Alexandre Almeida, Alex L Mitchell, Aleksandra Tarkowska, Robert D Finn

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in GigaScience, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
63citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

63 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  10. Co-Fermentation withFoods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
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3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Alexandre AlmeidaEMBL-EBI European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
Alex L MitchellEMBL-EBI European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
Aleksandra TarkowskaEMBL-EBI European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
Robert D FinnEMBL-EBI European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Taxonomic profiling of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences has been the accepted norm for inferring the composition of complex microbial ecosystems. Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) and mothur have been the most widely used taxonomic analysis tools for this purpose, with MAPseq and QIIME 2 being two recently released alternatives. However, no independent and direct comparison between these four main tools has been performed. Here, we compared the default classifiers of MAPseq, mothur, QIIME, and QIIME 2 using synthetic simulated datasets comprised of some of the most abundant genera found in the human gut, ocean, and soil environments. We evaluate their accuracy when paired with both different reference databases and variable sub-regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Findings: We show that QIIME 2 provided the best recall and F-scores at genus and family levels, together with the lowest distance estimates between the observed and simulated samples. However, MAPseq showed the highest precision, with miscall rates consistently <2%. Notably, QIIME 2 was the most computationally expensive tool, with CPU time and memory usage almost 2 and 30 times higher than MAPseq, respectively. Using the SILVA database generally yielded a higher recall than using Greengenes, while assignment results of different 16S rRNA variable sub-regions varied up to 40% between samples analysed with the same pipeline. Conclusions: Our results support the use of either QIIME 2 or MAPseq for optimal 16S rRNA gene profiling, and we suggest that the choice between the two should be based on the level of recall, precision, and/or computational performance required.

Indexed as

Environmental MicrobiologyBacteriaBiodiversityDatabases, GeneticGastrointestinal MicrobiomeHumansMicrobiotaOceans and SeasPhylogenyPrincipal Component AnalysisRNA, Ribosomal, 16SSoilRNA, Ribosomal, 16SSoil

Identifiers

PMID29762668
PMCPMC5967554

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.