Host Read Removal Workflow
In metagenomics, biological specimens are sometimes collected from a tissue of a host that contains a high ratio of host to bacterial DNA. Removal of host DNA can increase precision and accuracy in microbiome profiling, especially for functional data.
When shotgun metagenomics sequencing data are generated for these specimens, they normally contain a large fraction of host reads compared to microbial reads. Analyzing microbiome data with high host ratio can lead to spurious data especially in the case of functional characterization.
In order to address this issue bioinformatically, We are pleased to introduce a fully automated preprocessing workflow to remove host sequencing reads from your metagenomics sequencing data. Once a user uploads their metagenomics sequencing reads to the HUB, they will be allowed to choose from a list of 8 different hosts to de-host their sequencing reads.
The total number of discarded host reads will be viewable from the single sample view UI as shown in the image below.
If you want to download de-hosting stats for multiple samples at once, please use the Metadata CSV export from the Metadata & Cohorts menu as shown in the video below.