Effect of multiple displacement amplification (MDA) on sequence-based microbial community analysis

Multiple displacement amplification (MDA) is being used increasingly to support characterization of low-biomass environments. Despite of its enormous potential, MDA has a number of recognized limitations including amplification bias that may compromise subsequent quantitative analysis. Here, we systematically evaluate the bias introduced by MDA on complex microbial communities using small-submunti (SSU) rRNA amplicon pyrosequencing.