(36d) Microdroplet-Enabled Metagenomic Reconstruction of Draft Genomes from the Human Gut Microbiome

The complexity of human gut microbiome and the “unculturable” majority of bacteria thwarts efforts to understand the mechanisms of the microbiome as a driver of human health. In response, the reconstruction of genomes from metagenomic datasets provides a means to access these “unculturable” members and link the taxonomy of individual members to functional capability. However, metagenomic reconstruction, without supplementation with other technologies or numerous samples over spatiotemporal instances, can only recover a small number of the most abundant members of complex communities or resolve very simple communities. To circumvent this, we developed a microfluidic approach to encapsulate fractionated human stool communities into microdroplets. This decreases the overall diversity and complexity in each sample. allowing access to rare microbiota from the microbial “dark matter” and facilitating the metagenomic reconstruction of their genomes. Using this approach, we demonstrate nearly complete reconstruction of draft genomes from a population co-cultivated in a microdroplet and provide insight into the functional and ecological potential of these microbes.