QIIME mapfile

The mapfile is a metadata text table containing sequencing and experimental information of each sample.

A mapfile can simply be created as Excel table and then saved as tab delimited text file.

The header line needs to look like:

#SampleID BarcodeSequence LinkerPrimerSequence Treatment ... Description

S01 control gut_sample_01

S02 diet_A gut_sample_02

S03 diet_B gut_sample_03

- #SampleID (starting with #) as first column
- BarcodeSequence (keep empty if sequence does not contain barcodes)
- Treatment (or Environment, etc) - main experimental condition of each sample
- ... additional columns of sample metadata
- Description as last column (original sample name)

bold names are required columns in the mapfile metadata table.

Check metadata mapfile in qiime

validate_mapping_file.py -m metadata.csv -o validation_outcomes

validation results: validation_outcomes/metadata.html (to open in web-browser)