16S/18S/ITS Amplicon Sequencing

16S / 18S / ITS Amplicon Sequencing

16S rRNA gene, a highly conserved component, is the most widely used gene marker for genus and species identification and taxonomic significance in bacteria and archaea. 16S rRNA gene sequencing has become prevalent in microbiology as a rapid and cheap alternative to phenotypic methods of bacterial identification.

Although it was originally used to identify bacteria, 16S sequencing was subsequently found to be capable of reclassifying bacteria into completely new species, or even genera. It has also been used to describe new species that have never been successfully cultured.

18S rRNA is commonly used in fungi for phylogenetics since it has more hypervariable domains than 16S. In addition to this, the ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) region (including 5.8S), removed in the post transcriptional process of nuclear rRNA cistron, has been widely regarded as a universal fungi barcode marker for a successful identification for the broadest range of fungi. And compared to 18S, ITS is more variable and hence more suitable as the genetic marker for measuring intra specific genetic diversity.

16S/18S/ITS Amplicon Sequencing has now been a well established method for microbial identification and phylogeny studies of samples from complicated microbiomes or environments.

In addition to next-generation sequencing platforms, Bio Basic Asia Pacific also provides full-length 16S/18S/ITS amplicon sequencing by using PacBio SMRT sequencing technology.

For more information and quotation, kindly contact us at NGS@biobasic-asia.com