This is the website that supports the mothur software program - one of the most widely used tools for analyzing 16S rRNA gene sequence data. Step inside to learn how to use the software, get help, and join our community!

If you’re looking for papers from the Schloss lab that form the basis of mothur’s functions, the default values, and our approach, see this listing from the lab’s website. Perhaps the most important papers are those that announced mothur and the 2020 retrospective on mothur’s development.

• Schloss PD, Westcott SL, Ryabin T, Hall JR, Hartmann M, Hollister EB, Lesniewski RA, Oakley BB, Parks DH, Robinson CJ, Sahl JW, Stres B, Thallinger GG, Van Horn DJ, Weber CF. 2009. Introducing mothur: open-source, platform-independent, community-supported software for describing and comparing microbial communities. Appl Environ Microbiol. 75: 7537-41. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01541-09.
• Schloss PD. 2020. Reintroducing mothur: 10 years later. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 86: e02343-19. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02343-19.