Project overview 

Metagenomics studies implement the sequencing and analysis of all fragments of DNA and/or RNA available in a given biological medium (e.g. skin tissue, gut or rumen sample, fecal material, leaf surface, soil sample, etc) and reveal genomic sequences belonging to a variety of micro-organisms. Recent studies have confirmed that these micro-organisms play an important role in facilitating biological processes in the host (e.g. digestion, nutrient absorption, immunology, etc) as well as the adaptation of the host to an adverse environment.

While metagenomics are a very promising and fast-developing field of biological sciences, they require complex workflows of downstream analysis and lead to many different types of quantitative results and graphical visualisations. This complicates the path from field sampling to proper analysis and interpretation of results.

Currently the vast majority of available metagenomics studies focus on human metagenomics, but the field also holds great promise for livestock, as better understanding of microbiomes could translate into innovations for better animal health, better breeding practices, reduced use of antibiotics, etc. Moreover, while metagenomics studies performed on material from Europe and America are more and more common, the adoption curve for this type of studies is slow among African scientists. We want to lift these barriers: we believe that the African scientific community (and, first and foremost, the alumni of the ABCF programme who were many to attempt such studies in the recent years) will benefit from using an online tool enabling them to upload their data and have a direct access to analysis results and visualisations, including tools for comparative analysis of different metagenomics studies. A comprehensive database of studies on livestock-related metagenomics studies will provide the data source for this online tool, with features enabling researchers to upload their dataset, either in unprocessed (raw Illumina reads) or semi-processed (BIOM files, abundance tables, etc) formats.

From the very beginning of the project implementation, care was taken to craft metadata categories and descriptions (in the design of the database schema) that allow for a seamless future extension of this tool to encompass metagenomics studies on domestic and wild animal, zoonotic diseases, crops, soil, water and environment. Ultimately, this database could form the primary support tool for all the metagenomics work carried out within the AfriqueOne-ASPIRE consortium (OneHealth paradigm).