What are the different types of microbiome sequencing?

Standard 16S and 18S sequencing have been used to identify bacteria and ITS sequencing has been used to identify fungi. These sequencing techniques, though less expensive, can only identify certain organisms and are often unable to distinguish different strains of a species.

Strain level identification is increasingly important as the scientific literature is showing that two different strains of the same species can affect someone's health quite differently.

Jona uses shotgun metagenomic sequencing, a comprehensive DNA sequencing method used to identify and analyze all the genetic material from a community of organisms (like the gut microbiome) simultaneously.

The name comes from the "shotgun" approach: instead of targeting a specific gene, the entire pool of DNA from a sample is "shattered" into millions of tiny random fragments, sequenced, and then digitally stitched back together. These sequences are then compared against massive databases to identify which species and strains they belong to, and their associated impact on the body.