Advancing Microbial Identification in Complex Matrices: Oxford Nanopore Sequencing in High-Throughput Analysis

Summary in the original language of the document

Accurate species-level identification of bacteria and fungi by high-throughput sequencing in complex matrices is important in many fields, including biotechnological processes, environmental monitoring, and clinical diagnostics. The techniques used today to identify species in complex habitats are frequently time- and labor-intensive. Illumina's Amplicon sequencing technology makes it possible to characterize microbial communities; nevertheless, its short fragment length makes it difficult to identify specific species. More precise but quick approaches are needed to allow species-level identification. In this context, the application of Oxford Nanopore sequencing technology (ONT), also referred to as third-generation sequencing, to sequence complex samples is extremely relevant, because the large sequence length enables species-level identification.