Samuel P Forry, Stephanie L Servetas, Jason G Kralj, Keng Soh, Michalis Hadjithomas, Raul Cano, Martha Carlin, Maria G de Amorim, Benjamin Auch, Matthew G Bakker, Thais F Bartelli, Juan P Bustamante, Ignacio Cassol, Mauricio Chalita, Emmanuel Dias-Neto, Aaron Del Duca, Daryl M Gohl, Jekaterina Kazantseva, Muyideen T Haruna, Peter Menzel, Bruno S Moda, Lorieza Neuberger-Castillo, Diana N Nunes, Isha R Patel, Rodrigo D Peralta, Adrien Saliou, Rolf Schwarzer, Samantha Sevilla, Isabella K T M Takenaka, Jeremy R Wang, Rob Knight, Dirk Gevers, Scott A Jackson
Several studies have documented the significant impact of methodological choices in microbiome analyses. The myriad of methodological options available complicate the replication of results and generally limit the comparability of findings between independent studies that use differing techniques and measurement pipelines. Here we describe the Mosaic Standards Challenge (MSC), an international interlaboratory study designed to assess the impact of methodological variables on the results. The MSC did not prescribe methods but rather asked participating labs to analyze 7 shared reference samples (5 × human stool samples and 2 × mock communities) using their standard laboratory methods...
April 29, 2024: Scientific Reports