NanoRTax, a real-time pipeline for taxonomic and diversity analysis of nanopore 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing data

BACKGROUND: The study of microbial communities and their applications have been leveraged by advances in sequencing techniques and bioinformatics tools. The Oxford Nanopore Technologies long-read sequencing by nanopores provides a portable and cost-efficient platform for sequencing assays. While this opens the possibility of sequencing applications outside specialized environments and real-time analysis of data, complementing the existing efficient library preparation protocols with streamlined bioinformatic workflows is required. RESULTS: Here we present NanoRTax, a Nextflow pipeline for nanopore 16S rRNA gene amplicon data that features state-of-the-art taxonomic classification tools and real-time capability. The pipeline is paired with a web-based visual interface to enable user-friendly inspections of the experiment in progress. NanoRTax workflow and a simulated real-time analysis were used to validate the prediction of adult Intensive Care Unit patient mortality based on full-length 16S rRNA sequencing data from respiratory microbiome samples. CONCLUSIONS: This constitutes a proof-of-concept simulation study of how real-time bioinformatic workflows could be used to shorten the turnaround times in critical care settings and provides an instrument for future research on early-response strategies for sepsis.