Whole microbial community viability is not quantitatively reflected by propidium monoazide sequencing approach

Propidium monoazide (PMA) treatment coupled with downstream molecular profiling (e.g. qPCR or DNA sequencing) is an approach to quantify the viable components of microbial communities. Here, we present our work on rigorously benchmarking PMA-seq (PMA treatment followed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing) as a screen and a quantitative approach for microbial viability in both synthetic and realistic microbial communities.