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Empirical testing of 16S rRNA gene PCR primer pairs reveals variance in target specificity and efficacy not suggested by in silico analysis.

ABSTRACT: Phylogenetic and "fingerprinting" analyses of the 16S rRNA genes of prokaryotes have been a mainstay of microbial ecology during the last two decades. However, many methods and results from studies that rely on the 16S rRNA gene for detection and quantification of specific microbial taxa have seemingly received only cursory or even no validation. To directly examine the efficacy and specificity of 16S rRNA gene-based primers for phylum-, class-, and operational taxonomic unit-specific target amplification in quantitative PCR, we created a collection of primers based solely on an extensive soil bacterial 16S rRNA gene clone library containing approximately 5,000 sequences from a single soil sample (i.e., a closed site-specific library was used to create PCR primers for use at this site). These primers were initially tested in silico prior to empirical testing by PCR amplification of known target sequences and of controls based on disparate phylogenetic groups. Although all primers were highly specific according to the in silico analysis, the empirical analyses clearly exhibited a high degree of nonspecificity for many of the phyla or classes, while other primers proved to be highly specific. These findings suggest that significant care must be taken when interpreting studies whose results were obtained with target specific primers that were not adequately validated, especially where population densities or dynamics have been inferred from the data. Further, we suggest that the reliability of quantification of specific target abundance using 16S rRNA-based quantitative PCR is case specific and must be determined through rigorous empirical testing rather than solely in silico.

SUBMITTER: Morales SE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2681686 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Empirical testing of 16S rRNA gene PCR primer pairs reveals variance in target specificity and efficacy not suggested by in silico analysis.

Morales Sergio E SE Holben William E WE

Applied and environmental microbiology 20090227 9

Phylogenetic and "fingerprinting" analyses of the 16S rRNA genes of prokaryotes have been a mainstay of microbial ecology during the last two decades. However, many methods and results from studies that rely on the 16S rRNA gene for detection and quantification of specific microbial taxa have seemingly received only cursory or even no validation. To directly examine the efficacy and specificity of 16S rRNA gene-based primers for phylum-, class-, and operational taxonomic unit-specific target amp ...[more]

PMID: 19251890

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Project description:Short-amplicon 16S rRNA gene sequencing is currently the method of choice for studies investigating microbiomes. However, comparative studies on differences in procedures are scarce. We sequenced human stool samples and mock communities with increasing complexity using a variety of commonly used protocols. Short amplicons targeting different variable regions (V-regions) or ranges thereof (V1-V2, V1-V3, V3-V4, V4, V4-V5, V6-V8, and V7-V9) were investigated for differences in the composition outcome due to primer choices. Next, the influence of clustering (operational taxonomic units [OTUs], zero-radius OTUs [zOTUs], and amplicon sequence variants [ASVs]), different databases (GreenGenes, the Ribosomal Database Project, Silva, the genomic-based 16S rRNA Database, and The All-Species Living Tree), and bioinformatic settings on taxonomic assignment were also investigated. We present a systematic comparison across all typically used V-regions using well-established primers. While it is known that the primer choice has a significant influence on the resulting microbial composition, we show that microbial profiles generated using different primer pairs need independent validation of performance. Further, comparing data sets across V-regions using different databases might be misleading due to differences in nomenclature (e.g., Enterorhabdus versus Adlercreutzia) and varying precisions in classification down to genus level. Overall, specific but important taxa are not picked up by certain primer pairs (e.g., Bacteroidetes is missed using primers 515F-944R) or due to the database used (e.g., Acetatifactor in GreenGenes and the genomic-based 16S rRNA Database). We found that appropriate truncation of amplicons is essential and different truncated-length combinations should be tested for each study. Finally, specific mock communities of sufficient and adequate complexity are highly recommended.IMPORTANCE In 16S rRNA gene sequencing, certain bacterial genera were found to be underrepresented or even missing in taxonomic profiles when using unsuitable primer combinations, outdated reference databases, or inadequate pipeline settings. Concerning the last, quality thresholds as well as bioinformatic settings (i.e., clustering approach, analysis pipeline, and specific adjustments such as truncation) are responsible for a number of observed differences between studies. Conclusions drawn by comparing one data set to another (e.g., between publications) appear to be problematic and require independent cross-validation using matching V-regions and uniform data processing. Therefore, we highlight the importance of a thought-out study design including sufficiently complex mock standards and appropriate V-region choice for the sample of interest. The use of processing pipelines and parameters must be tested beforehand.

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Dataset Information

Empirical testing of 16S rRNA gene PCR primer pairs reveals variance in target specificity and efficacy not suggested by in silico analysis.

Publications

Empirical testing of 16S rRNA gene PCR primer pairs reveals variance in target specificity and efficacy not suggested by in silico analysis.

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