title: Single-cell technologies in environmental omics.
abstract: Environmental studies are primarily done by culturing isolated microorganisms or by amplifying and sequencing conserved genes. Difficulties understanding the complexity of large numbers of various microorganisms in an environment led to the development of techniques to enrich specific microorganisms for upstream analysis, ultimately leading to single-cell isolation and analyses. We discuss the significance of single-cell technologies in omics studies with focus on metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. We propose that by reducing sample heterogeneity using single-cell genomics, metaomic studies can be simplified.
authors.affiliation: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division (CEMSE), Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: Rimantas.Kodzius@kaust.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Rimantas
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kodzius
authors.affiliation: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division (BESE), Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: Takashi.Gojobori@kaust.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gojobori
mesh_terms: D023281:Genomics; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: FACS; Heterogeneity; Metagenomics; Microdroplet; Sequencing