Choosing Between Short-Read 16S, Full-Length ONT 16S, and Long-Read Shotgun Metagenomics for Soil Microbiome Studies: A Critical Review of the Benchmarking Evidence
Abdulla Albastaki, Judith Smith · 2026
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Description
Abdulla Albastaki and Judith Smith present a 2026 review on how to pick a DNA method for soil microbe studies. Soil holds thousands of species at wildly uneven counts, and the method chosen shapes what a study sees. Three methods lead the field: short-read gene scans, full-length gene scans on a portable device, and long-read whole-community DNA reads. Teams often pick by cost or habit, not by known bias.
The review gathers head-to-head tests that ran two or more methods on the same soil. The methods agree on the dominant species and on gaps between sites. They split on total variety counts, rare species finds, and the shares of whole microbe groups. New device chemistry has narrowed the accuracy gap. The guide helps teams match method to question.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Abdulla Albastaki, Judith Smith |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 33 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |