Aspects of Quality and Project Management in Analyses of Large Scale Sequencing Data

Abstract

We describe step-by-step the outline of a project, in which the evolutionary history of pancrustaceans (crustaceans and hexpods) was revisited using molecular methods. It was part of a larger program, the ‘Deep Metazoan Phylogeny’ priority program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), wich aimed to reconstruct the metazoan tree of life involving more than 30 subprojects. This chapter should be understood as a backbone, that clarifies important points to plan and to conduct projects in molecular biology, also using next generation sequencing data. The text is divided in four parts: 1) theoretical aspects to projects in molecular biology, 2) the process from the collection of material in the field to the final sequencing, 3) the process from the sequence to the reconstructed topology with a special emphasis on data quality, and 4) the conclusions to prevent pitfalls.