DNA once dismissed as 'noise' reveals new bacterial species in prostate cancer patients

A University of East Anglia team reconstructed 249 near-complete bacterial genomes from existing sequencing data of 194 prostate cancer patients, identifying 18 previously undocumented bacterial species. The team screened 2,176 PPCG sequencing datasets, retaining non-human reads normally filtered out as noise and rebuilding genomes through metagenomic assembly; 24 genomes matched no species on record. The study assigned provisional names to 16 novel organisms and developed a precise DNA test for one species, but whether these bacteria contribute to prostate cancer remains unclear.