Tools for microbial community analysis using high-throughput amplicon sequencing data

Amplicon high-throughput sequencing is currently the most widely used technique to investigate complex microbial communities. In order to analyze amplicon sequencing data, specialized software and algorithms are required to turn raw sequencing data into biologically meaningful information. This thesis serves as an overview of the current pos- sibilities and an introduction to microbial community analysis. It provides a comparison of the most widely used bioinformatics pipelines as well as a newer pipeline SEED2 and a foundation for users to make a decision based on their preferences.