The BioWeatherMap project, led by DIYbio member Jason Bobe, is developing a ~$5 kit that will let users identify thousands of the microbes present in or on a given sample or surface. The kit helps the user prepare an arbitrary sample for direct DNA sequencing.

In the pilot program, hundreds of participants will sign up at bioweathermap.org, gather in a “FlashLab” event, receive a sampling kit (probably something like a Q-tip and a test tube), and disperse throughout the local region to sample a particular type object, such as cross-walk buttons. The participants will then return their samples to the BioWeatherMap group for analysis.

Once several hundred samples have been collected and prepared, the BioWeatherMap group will purchase a single DNA sequencing run on a high-throughput DNA sequencer for all the samples at once, with each sample receiving about 1500 “reads”. The preparation step isolates and amplifies a small, species-specific region of DNA from the genome of each sample. For each sample, then, up to 1500 unique species could be identified (or the same specie could be identified 1500 times). By leveraging economies of scale, the BioWeatherMap group will be able to provide 1500 reads at the most economical cost.

The BioWeatherMap project is the first example of a new kind of distributed, participatory, bite-size science. It will demonstrate to participants that research doesn’t require a Ph.D. The data they generate will be fascinating – literal BioWeatherMaps: maps of time-series of microbial population flows overlaid on a Google Earth view of the city.

The first Flashlab event should be happening sometime this summer (2009).

In the meantime, I want to figure out how to do a smaller-scale version of the same thing – direct sequencing of a short, species-specific genomic DNA sequence for microbial species identification – in a cheap, garage-friendly way. I want to do Garage Metagenomics. (DNA Barcoding is the same concept but for Eukaryotic organisms).

I’ve started looking through the metagenomics literature(links to fulltext library) for simple protocols that could be adapted to a basic garage lab. I’m planning on outsourcing the actual sequencing ($50-$100?), but doing the rest of the sample preparation myself: isolating and purifying genomic DNA and doing PCR to amplify the species-specific DNA barcode, probably a 16s or 18s ribosomal subunit gene.

Check back soon for more info on my progress and please leave a comment if you would like to help out or do some Garage Metagenomics of your own.