Intro to Metabarcoding using QIIME2 in Galaxy

Tristan Reynolds and Ashley Dungan

This workshop will give you an introduction to using QIIME2 tools on Galaxy Australia using 16S rRNA gene amplicon data from marsupial-associated bacteria.

Topics covered will be:

1. Importing, cleaning and quality control of the data
2. Taxonomic analysis
3. Building a phylogenetic tree
4. Basic visualisations and statistics.

At the end of this introductory workshop, you will be able to:

• Describe the structure of amplicon sequencing data, including the components of raw 16S rRNA gene output (FASTQ files, barcodes, and metadata), and explain how sequencing depth, quality scores, and primer choice influence downstream analyses.
• Implement a reproducible QIIME2 workflow, from raw sequence import through denoising (DADA2), feature table construction, and taxonomic assignment.
• Calculate and interpret ecological diversity metrics, including alpha and beta diversity; understand rarefaction; and visualise ordinations (e.g., PCoA) to infer patterns of community similarity and clustering.
• Integrate microbiome structure with biological context, formulating hypotheses about captivity-associated microbial shifts in wild versus captive fat-tailed dunnarts (Sminthopsis crassicaudata).
• Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of 16S rRNA gene amplicon data, including issues of compositionality, relative abundance, and functional inference.

Researchers new to the analysis of bacterial communities using 16s rRNA gene (full-length or amplicon) sequencing who have some experience using Galaxy Australia.

This free workshop is available to staff and students at The University of Melbourne and its affiliated institutes.

You must register for this event using an affiliated institutional email address or your registration may be cancelled.

This is an in person hands-on workshop and attendees must bring their own computers (laptop chargers also recommended). No software needs to be installed for this workshop. The following is required:

• Access to internet via uniwireless or Eduroam
• Web browser (Firefox or Chrome recommended)
• Participants should register for a My BioCommons Access account prior to the workshop if they do not already have one to access Galaxy Australia

If you require any further information, or have any access requirements in order to participate in this workshop, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss your requirements:

We recommend following our Eventbrite page if you wish to be alerted when we release new workshops for registrations. If you require any further information, please contact Melbourne Bioinformatics at: [email protected]

Starting 1 August 2025, participants who miss two or more workshops without proper notice (less than 48 hours or attending under 50%) within 12 months will be placed on a 6-month waitlist for full workshops. To avoid being marked as a no-show, cancellations must be made at least 24 hours in advance, with exceptions allowed for emergencies.Please read the full policy here: https://mbite.org/guides/policy/