The sequencing method you choose shapes the resolution of your microbiome context — and how much of the ATLAS interpretation layer becomes available. Deeper methods reveal more scores, panels, and insight packs, each still framed with honest confidence.
Method depth sets the resolution of what ATLAS can read
Different sequencing technologies capture microbial ecosystems at different resolutions, and that choice flows directly into what ATLAS can interpret.
16S rRNA sequencing identifies which bacteria are present — a broad, cost-effective view suited to genus-level context.
Shotgun metagenomics reads more of the genetic content, supporting finer taxonomic resolution and functional potential.
Metatranscriptomics looks at microbial activity — what genes are being expressed. At VAMS BIOME it is a planned layer.
For everyday readers, deeper methods mean a richer, more complete report. For science-literate readers and HCPs, method choice determines which scores, panels, and insight packs are available and how confidence indicators are calibrated.
Regardless of depth, results remain sequencing-derived microbial context describing associations, not causation — never a diagnosis. Choosing greater depth expands resolution, not certainty; every output is still read within its stated confidence and limits.
What 16S, WGS, and MetaT can support — and where each one stops.
Each ATLAS™ output records the sequencing method behind it, so interpretation never exceeds what the data can support. 16S Foundation™ profiles community composition and diversity. WGS Advanced™ adds species-level resolution where coverage permits, and functional potential. MetaT Functional™ is a planned layer that would add active expression context. Where a method cannot support an output, ATLAS shows it as gated context — never as an empty or overstated result.
A score answers one biological question; the calculation underneath adapts to the method, but the public score stays stable.
Explore how method choice changes which scores, panels, and insight packs appear — and how confidence is framed at each level.
Outputs that a method cannot support are shown as gated context, never as empty or overstated results.
Three methods, three questions
Each sequencing method answers a different question about the same sample, and each has boundaries it cannot see past. Choosing a method is choosing a question.
One sample · three different questions
Question it answers
What is present, and how is the community structured?
Reads out
Cannot resolve
Question it answers
Which species are present, and what could the community do?
Reads out
Cannot resolve
Question it answers
What was being expressed when the sample was taken?
Reads out
Cannot resolve
Not a ladder — no method supersedes another.
After sequencing
Whichever method produced the reads, the signal passes through the same ATLAS™ interpretation layer — so what you receive is structured, comparable output with its method support stated.
How interpretation works →Sequencing signal
Unordered, method-dependent reads
ATLAS™ interpretation layer
Structured output
Ordered, labelled, bounded by method
