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Updated: Dec 5, 2025
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Genome-wide Purification of Extrachromosomal Circular DNA from Eukaryotic Cells
Published on: April 4, 2016
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mMGE: a database for human metagenomic extrachromosomal mobile genetic elements.
Senying Lai1, Longhao Jia1, Balakrishnan Subramanian2
1Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Nucleic Acids Research
|October 19, 2020
Summary
This study introduces mMGE, a large catalog of over 500,000 mobile genetic elements like plasmids and phages from human microbiomes. It provides extensive data on their functions and distribution, aiding microbiome research.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Genomics
- Bioinformatics
Background:
- Extrachromosomal mobile genetic elements (eMGEs), including phages and plasmids, are crucial for microbial genome evolution and community structure.
- Knowledge regarding the abundance, distribution, and functions of eMGEs within microbiomes remains limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To create a comprehensive catalog of human microbiome eMGEs.
- To provide extensive annotations and facilitate the study of eMGEs' roles in microbial communities and human health.
Main Methods:
- Compilation of 517,251 non-redundant eMGEs (92,492 plasmids, 424,759 phages) from 66,425 human metagenomic samples.
- Clustering of eMGEs into 70,074 clusters.
- Annotation of sequence characteristics, taxonomy, gene content, and host associations.
Main Results:
- The mMGE catalog offers detailed information on eMGEs, including their prevalence within and across samples.
- Analysis enables the identification of potential associations between eMGEs, microbial communities, and human phenotypes.
- A user-friendly interface and BLAST server facilitate data access and querying.
Conclusions:
- mMGE provides a valuable resource for exploring the diversity and function of eMGEs in the human microbiome.
- The catalog supports research into eMGEs' impact on microbial ecology and human health.
- mMGE is freely accessible, promoting further investigation into these mobile genetic elements.
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