• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.202-213
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• 2020

Although technological advances have allowed the efficient collection of large amounts of microbiome data for microbiological studies, proper analysis tools for such big data are still lacking. Additionally, analyses of microbial communities using poor databases can lead to misleading results. Hence, this study aimed to design an appropriate method for the analysis of big microbial databases. Bacteria were collected from the fingertips and personal belongings (mobile phones and laptop keyboards) of individuals. The genomic DNA was extracted from these bacteria and subjected to next-generation sequencing by targeting the 16S rRNA gene. The accuracy of the bacterial matching percentage between the fingertips and personal belongings was verified using a formula and an environment-related and human-related database. To design appropriate analysis, the bacterial matching accuracy was calculated based on the following three categories: comparison between qualitative and quantitative analysis, comparisons within same-gender participants as well as all participants regardless of gender, and comparison between the use of a human-related bacterial database (hDB) and environment-related bacterial database (eDB). The results showed that qualitative analysis, comparisons within same-gender participants, and the use of hDB provided relatively accurate results. This study provides an analytical method to obtain accurate results when conducting studies involving big microbiological data using human-derived microorganisms.