Assembly of Measurement Standards for Metagenomic Analyses by Labcyte Echo 525

Many laboratories have developed control samples in the form of synthetic spiked controls, generous donor samples, or mock communities(MC);however,none have been universally adopted as the “gold standard” for all studies... [ view full abstract ]

Many laboratories have developed control samples in the form of synthetic spiked controls, generous donor samples, or mock communities(MC);however,none have been universally adopted as the “gold standard” for all studies to be compared. In this study, we will focus on the assembly of both a DNA and cell-based MC. In addition to agreeing on the members of the MC and their respective proportions,assembly is a difficult task. Given the extreme sensitivity of DNA sequencing,minimal amount of material is required to form the MC. With this sensitivity comes the increased risk of contamination, resulting in noise in the final analysis. We employed Labcyte’s Echo 525, a unique technology capable of delivering extremely precise nanoliter volumes through acoustic liquid transfer requiring no physical contact,thus eliminating the potential for cross-contamination  often experienced with tip-based liquid handlers.