title: Experimental and analytical tools for studying the human microbiome.
abstract: The human microbiome substantially affects many aspects of human physiology, including metabolism, drug interactions and numerous diseases. This realization, coupled with ever-improving nucleotide sequencing technology, has precipitated the collection of diverse data sets that profile the microbiome. In the past 2 years, studies have begun to include sufficient numbers of subjects to provide the power to associate these microbiome features with clinical states using advanced algorithms, increasing the use of microbiome studies both individually and collectively. Here we discuss tools and strategies for microbiome studies, from primer selection to bioinformatics analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, 347 UCB, Boulder, Colorado                 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kuczynski
authors.forename: Christian L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Lauber
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: Laura Wegener
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Parfrey
authors.forename: José C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Clemente
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gevers
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Knight
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods*; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D054892:Metagenome / Q000235:genetics*; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D004247:DNA