Table 1

Summary of metagenomic sequencing projects

Community
Estimated species richness
Thousands of sequence reads
Total DNA sequenced (Mbp)
Sequence reads in contigs (%)

Acid mine drainage
6
100
76
85





Deep sea whale fall




Sample 1
150
38
25
43
Sample 2
50
38
25
32
Sample 3
20
40
25
47





Sargasso Sea




Samples 1-4
300 per sample
1,662
1,361
61
Sample 5-7
300 per sample
325
265
<1





Minnesota farm soil
>3,000
150
100
<1

Schloss and Handelsman Genome Biology 2005 6:229   doi:10.1186/gb-2005-6-8-229