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MEtaGenome ANalyzer (MEGAN): Metagenomic Expert Resource

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Encyclopedia of Metagenomics

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Synonyms

MEGAN = MEtagenome ANalyzer

Definition

MEGAN is a tool for analyzing metagenomic sequencing data, allowing the user to interactively explore the taxonomic and functional content of a dataset. It also supports the comparison of multiple datasets. The program was originally published in (Huson et al. 2007), and the most recent version was published in (Huson et al. 2011). Written in Java, the program runs on all major operating systems. The program can be downloaded from http://www-ab.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de/software/megan.

Introduction

Metagenomics is the study of uncultured organisms in their native environment using DNA sequencing (Handelsman et al. 1998). In a typical project, DNA (or, in the case of meta-transcriptomics, cDNA reverse-transcribed from RNA) is extracted from an environmental sample and then shotgun sequenced. Once a metagenome dataset of DNA sequencing reads has been generated in this way, the first three main computation challenges are to (1) estimate...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Bioinformatics, Algorithms in Bioinformatics, University of Tübingen, C310a, Sand 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Daniel H. Huson

Authors
  1. Daniel H. Huson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel H. Huson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Karen E. Nelson

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Huson, D.H. (2013). MEtaGenome ANalyzer (MEGAN): Metagenomic Expert Resource. In: Nelson, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Metagenomics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_4-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_4-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6418-1

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