Archaea constitute one of the three recognized phylogenetic groups of organisms living on the planet, and the latest to be discovered. Most Archaea resist cultivation and are studied using molecular methods. High-throughput amplicon sequencing and metagenomic approaches have been key in uncovering hitherto unknown archaeal diversity, their metabolic potential, and have even provided an insight into genomes of a number of uncultivated members of this group. Here, we summarize protocols describing sampling, molecular, metagenomic, and metatranscriptomic analyses as well as bioinformatics approaches that have proved useful for the study of archaea in natural samples.
Keywords: Archaeal communities; Bioinformatic analysis; Large insert-size library; Metagenomic DNA; Single-cell genomics; Small insert-size library.