Table 3.3 summarizes the similarity in composition between pairs of libraries. The two most similar libraries are MHAM and DSIR, contrary to the axenic plant root libraries (KV0 and NF root), and nodulating plant root libraries (KV3 and NF nod), as might be expected.
A dendrogram of library complementarity is shown in Figure 3.8, for values calculated at the 50% identity threshold. Trees constructed at more stringent identity thresholds have the same branching topology; only the scale at which nodes meet shifts with changing stringency. While we might expect libraries prepared from similar plant tissues to cluster together, this is not the case. The two most similar libraries (DSIR and MHAM) cluster together, which in turn cluster with the NF nod library. Two libraries from the VandenBosch laboratory (KV0 and KV3) cluster together, but are less similar to one another than the three that cluster at lower complementarity. The NF root library is the least similar (most complementary) to the others.
It is important to note that these observations of library relatedness are based on the transcripts quasispecies that have been observed. As more transcripts quasispecies are sequenced in each library, we expect the degree of similarity between libraries to increase, but at an unknown rate [32].
 |
| DSIR | MHAM | KV0 | KV3 | NF root | |
| MHAM | 5.1, 8.0, 10.1 | ||||
| KV0 | 3.9, 6.3, 8.0 | 4.1, 6.9, 8.7 | |||
| KV3 | 3.3, 5.8, 7.7 | 3.2, 5.9, 7.8 | 3.6, 6.5, 8.4 | ||
| NF root | 2.3, 4.5, 6.9 | 2.2, 4.0, 5.7 | 1.7, 3.5, 5.1 | 1.2, 2.8, 4.5 | |
| NF nod | 4.3, 8.0, 9.7 | 4.1, 7.2, 8.9 | 3.7, 6.7, 8.7 | 2.4, 5.3, 7.0 | 2.4, 4.5, 6.2 |
), calculated at three thresholds (90%, 70%, and 50%).