GC bias affects genomic and metagenomic reconstructions, underrepresenting GC-poor organisms

Background Metagenomic sequencing is a well-established tool in the modern biosciences. While it promises unparalleled insights into the genetic content of the biological samples studied, conclusions drawn are at risk from biases inherent to the DNA sequencing methods, including inaccurate abundance estimates as a function of genomic guanine-cytosine (GC) contents. Results We explored such GC biases across many commonly used platforms in...