Perspectives from Ten Years of Protist Studies by High-Throughput Metabarcoding

Area of Science:

• Environmental microbiology
• Molecular ecology
• Protistology

Background:

• High-throughput metabarcoding is a standard technique for assessing protistan diversity and distribution.
• Despite advances, challenges remain in deriving robust taxonomic and ecological insights from short DNA sequences.
• Addressing these limitations is crucial for accurate protist research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the strengths and weaknesses of metabarcoding for protist research.
• To synthesize current methodological and conceptual trends in the field.
• To identify future research directions in protist metabarcoding.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and synthesis of existing studies.
• Analysis of scientific and technical findings in protist metabarcoding.
• Identification of trends and challenges in the field.

Main Results:

• Metabarcoding has revolutionized protist diversity studies but faces limitations with short DNA sequences.
• Ongoing research addresses technical and biological challenges for improved accuracy.
• Key areas for future development include standardized protocols and advanced bioinformatic analyses.

Conclusions:

• Protist metabarcoding is a powerful tool with recognized limitations.
• Continued methodological refinement and interdisciplinary collaboration are essential for advancing protist ecological and taxonomic knowledge.
• Future research should focus on overcoming current challenges to maximize the utility of metabarcoding in protist research.