# SIG proposal: metagenomics/microbial ecology
## Brainstorm
**Proposal activities:**
- Coordinating cross-pipeline compatibility (samplesheet output/input)
- Gold-standard sets of parameters (e.g. clinicial metagenomics) [e.g. https://github.com/nf-core/mag/issues/455#issuecomment-1589356543]
- Recommendations/tutorials for downstream analysis of pipeline results (What do I do with a community table/a MAG?)
- Compile lists publications utilizing various approaches as examples.
- Establish use-cases for certain approaches (e.g. When is nf-core/mag appropriate? What are the strengths and weaknesses of *de novo* assembly?)
- Benchmarking pipelines with nf-core/readsimulator? (*This could be difficult/unreasonable, but I'm just throwing it out there!*)
- Maybe also benchmark (relevant) pipelines against CAMI2 dataset?
- Adding nf-test to relevant pipelines? :grimacing:
- Reducing functionality redundency
**Potential SIG Names:**
- microbial communities
- microbial omics
- metagenomics excludes amplicons and transcriptiomics
- community genomics
- community omics
- microbial diversity? (and function?)
**Discussions:**
- https://nfcore.slack.com/archives/CE9MS66BS/p1712226146333839
**Possible (co)leads:**
- James F.Y.
- Carson M.
- Daniel L.
- Jim D. (in a few months?)
**Posts:**
- https://nfcore.slack.com/archives/C02K5GX2W93/p1712226154096869
- https://nfcore.slack.com/archives/C02FC6VFQG1/p1712226169560849
- https://nfcore.slack.com/archives/CE9MS66BS/p1712226146333839
- https://nfcore.slack.com/archives/C062H82UCRG/p1712226157913549
**Relevant pipelines:**
- ampliseq
- metatdenovo
- detaxizer
- funcscan
- eager
- mag
- taxprofiler
- bacass
- createtaxdb
- phageannotator
- magmap
- readsimulator? (for benchmarking?)
- phyloplace (protein classification, phylogenetic placement of organisms)
- viralrecon
- rnaseq & differentialabudance (more specialized: magmap)
- bacass (simple microbial isolate genome assembly)
Potential Pipeline relationship:
```mermaid
flowchart TD
inputreads([input reads]) -.fastqs.-> taxprofiler
inputfasta([reference genomes]) --fastas--> createtaxdb
inputfasta([reference genomes]) --fastas & gffs--> rnaseq
fetchngs --public reads-->inputreads
fetchngs --> amplicons
createtaxdb --databases--> taxprofiler
inputreads --fastqs--> eager
inputreads --fastqs-->mag
inputreads --fastqs-->rnaseq
taxprofiler --processed reads--> mag
mag -. processed reads .-> taxprofiler
mag --contigs--> funcscan
mag --contigs & reads--> phageannotator
mag --fastas-->createtaxdb
mag --fastas & gffs--> magmap
mag --fastas & gffs--> rnaseq
rnaseq-->differentialabundance
inputreads([input reads])--> metatdenovo
amplicons([amplicon reads])--> ampliseq
metatdenovo --fastas--> funcscan
metatdenovo --fastas--> phyloplace
metatdenovo --fastas--> phageannotator
mag --fastas--> phyloplace
inputfasta--fastas--> magmap
inputfasta--reference genomes-->eager
createtaxdb --databases--> eager
inputreads([input reads])--> magmap
inputfasta-->mag
inputfasta-->taxprofiler
```
## Official Proposal
### Interest group name
Community 'omics
### What is it about?
Meta-omics methods aim to simultaneously analyse the entire 'omic' content of a biological sample, in other words to charactise all organisms (and their acitivity) within a given context. The aims of this interest group will be to help coordinate compatibility between current and existing meta\*omic nf-core pipelines. Proposed objectives include coordinating semi-'chaining' of pipelines, developing standard parameters for different sub-disciplines for each pipeline, and documentation utilising 'first level' meta\*omic pipelines, with complementary 'secondary' analysis, e.g. funcscan, phageannotator, phyloplace, rnaseq etc.
### Keywords
metagenomics, metataxonomics, metatranscriptomics, microbial ecology, clinical metagenomics
## Lead contact person
James Fellows Yates, Carson Miller, Daniel Lundin
## Pre-existing participating consortia (if relevant)
None
## List of typical nf-core pipelines used
#ampliseq, #createtaxdb, #eager, #mag, #magmap, #metatdenovo, #taxprofiler,