Copy number of the eukaryotic rRNA gene can be counted comprehensively

Abstract

Gene sequence has been widely used in molecular ecology. For instance, the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene has been widely used as a biological marker to understand microbial communities. The variety of the detected rRNA gene sequences reflects the diversity of the microorganisms existing in the analyzed sample. Their biomass also can be estimated by applying quantitative sequencing with the information of rRNA gene copy numbers in genomes, however, the information on rRNA gene copy number is still limited. Especially, the copy number in microbial eukaryotes is much less understood than that of prokaryotes, possibly because of the large and complex structure of eukaryotic genomes. In this communication, we report an alternative approach that is more appropriate from the existing method of quantitative sequencing and demonstrate that the copy number of eukaryotic rRNA can be measured efficiently and comprehensively. By applying this approach widely, information on the eukaryotic rRNA copy number can be determined, and their community structures can be depicted and compared more efficiently.