Metagenomics Hi-C /3C Service

Introduction of Metagenomics Hi-C /3C Sequencing

Hi-C not only clusters metagenomic results to species and strain levels, but also associates plasmids, phages and host bacteria in microbial communities. Horizontal gene transfer between strains is mediated by mobile genetic elements (such as plasmids, integrons, phages, transposons, etc.) of various drug-resistant genes that can be passed between bacterial strains of the same and different species, thus allowing rapid transmission of bacterial resistance, with recipient bacteria exhibiting multi-drug resistance. Dissecting host-plasmid and host-phage associations is critical to understanding the ecology of antibiotic resistance and the pathways of resistance gene transmission in the clinic, and is a prerequisite for designing and implementing interventions to reduce the threat of bacterial infection.

The 3C technology, the predecessor of Hi-C technology, Meta 3C can also be used to associate mobile genetic elements (resistance genes, plasmids and integrons) with the host genome. Importantly, Meta 3C is used to construct three 3C libraries directly for each sample by three four-base restriction endonucleases (HpaII, MluCI, Sau3AI) without labeling biotin, making the experimental process relatively simple.

Moreover, it can better guarantee the GC coverage of various microorganisms in the flora, and is more suitable for metagenomic assembly, which can make up for the defect that simple metagenomic sequencing is difficult to "classify" sequences to the species and strain levels in the community composition. The Meta Hi-C clustering is less contaminating and is suitable for biological problems such as plasmids and mobile elements.