5 Read Quality Control

5.1 Alignment of representative sequences

  • The MAFFT (Multiple Alignment using Fast Fourier Transform) software provides alignments of the representative sequences.
  • Then we will run alignment mask function to remove poor alignments.


5.2 Quality control and feature table with DADA2

QIIME2 uses DADA2[2] tool for:

  • Detecting poor reads in Illumina amplicon sequence data.
  • Denoising.
  • Filtering chimeric sequences.
  • Filtering any phiX reads present in marker gene.
  • Construction of feature table.

5.3 Using custom SILVA classifier

  • Silva resources
  • Taxonomy files
  • Below is a simple outline of the steps involved for constructing a QIIME 2 compatible reference from SILVA.
  • Begin by downloading the relevant taxonomy and sequence files from the SILVA.
  • Import these files into QIIME 2.
  • Prepare a fixed-rank taxonomy file.
  • Remove sequences with excessive degenerate bases and homopolymers.
  • Remove sequences that may be too short and/or long. With the option to condition the length filtering based on taxonomy.
  • Dereplicate the sequences and taxonomy.
  • Build our classifier.