Microbiome research typically involves sampling from a specific environment (a ‘biome’), which can be a particular geographical area, such as a field or a lake, or a body site, such as the gut or scalp. Genomic material extracted from the samples is then sequenced. This can involve the targeting of taxonomic marker genes, whole genome shotgun (WGS) metagenomic sequencing, and RNA-seq metatranscriptomic sequencing to study diversity, composition and function. Microbial assembled genomes (MAGs) can also be reconstructed for genomic studies of novel organisms.