Horizontal gene transfer of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) is a driving force in the genetic composition and diversity of environments with a high microbe density. In metagenomic samples, up to 25% of the genetic material can be comprised of MGEs¹, such as bacterial plasmids, phages associated with bacteria or viruses, transposons and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Yet, very little is known about the diversity and structure of these MGEs, and the mechanisms by which they are transmitted. In metagenomic shotgun sequencing, the DNA from a complex uncharacterized population of microorganisms is fragmented and mixed during library preparation — leaving it to assumption-driven computational methods to untangle. Even if MGEs can be identified, it is virtually impossible to attribute them to the individual organisms and strains with which they were associated at the time the sample was taken.

Host attribution of MGEs is simple with our ProxiMeta^TM Metagenome Deconvolution Platform. The proximity ligation library prep captures fragments of DNA that are co-located in cells in vivo, and provides direct links between the genomes assembled from a metagenomic sample and the MGEs identified using shotgun sequencing data. This added dimension of information is becoming indispensable in the study and surveillance of antibiotic resistance. 

Read how the ProxiMeta Platform was used to :

• link the resistome and plastidome to the microbiome in a wastewater sample
• assign virus and antimicrobial resistance genes to microbial hosts in a cattle rumen sample