EukRef: phylogenetic curation of ribosomal RNA to enhance understanding of eukaryotic diversity and distribution

Abstract

Environmental sequencing has greatly expanded our knowledge of micro-eukaryotic diversity and ecology. However, the analysis of these data depends on reference databases, which remain incomplete and often poorly curated. Here we describe EukRef, an initiative to provide a universal, curated, phylogeny-based reference database of eukaryotic small subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA gene sequences.

Javier del Campo

Group Leader

My research aims at understanding the global diversity and distribution of eukaryotic and prokaryotic microbes employing curated phylogenetic frameworks focusing on novel environmental taxa.