We read with interest the editorial by Baralle and Ismail exploring the utility of next-generation sequencing in paediatric clinical genetics.1 The other major use of this technology, which has emerged over the last decade, is in cataloguing complex microbial communities, for instance the different human microbiomes. The microbiome describes the diverse range of microorganisms found in and on the human body and their complex interaction network. It is generally considered as comprising viruses, bacteria, archaea and fungi. The human gut contains the most complex microbial ecosystem and has been most extensively investigated to date, particularly the gut bacterial microbiota. Briefly, two main approaches are used to identify and describe bacterial communities using next-generation sequencing: amplicon sequencing (metataxonomics) and metagenomics.2 Amplicon sequencing relies on PCR amplification …

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下一代测序作为描述不同微生物群的临床实验室工具：未来儿科实践的迫切需要

我们饶有兴趣地阅读了 Baralle 和 Ismail 的社论，探讨了下一代测序在儿科临床遗传学中的应用。 1 该技术的另一个主要用途是在过去十年中出现的复杂微生物群落编目，例如不同的人体微生物组。微生物组描述了人体内部和表面发现的各种微生物及其复杂的相互作用网络。它通常被认为包括病毒、细菌、古细菌和真菌。人类肠道包含最复杂的微生物生态系统，迄今为止已得到最广泛的研究，尤其是肠道细菌微生物群。简而言之，两种主要方法用于使用下一代测序来识别和描述细菌群落：扩增子测序（元分类学）和宏基因组学。