AMPHORA2 uses 31 bacterial and 104 archaeal phylogenetic marker genes for inferring phylogenetic information from metagenomic datasets.
The project aims to accelerate genomic research by amassing a large repository of metagenomic data generated by independent members of the research community at large, by developing a custom bioinformatics toolset optimized for cluster computing, and by offering the high-performance computing infrastructure on which to run it.
The reconstruction of two highly unusual archaeal genomes by de novo metagenomic assembly of multiple, deeply sequenced libraries via multi-locus phylogenetic analyses, from surface waters of Lake Tyrrell, a hypersaline lake in north-west Victoria, Australia, has led to the creation of a major novel euryarchaeal lineage, distantly related to halophilic archaea of class Halobacteria.