What is metagenomics? A. sequencing DNA from a group of species from the same ecosystem B. the sequencing of one or two representative genes from several species C. genomics as applied to a species that most typifies the average phenotype of its genus D. the sequencing of only the most highly conserved genes in a lineage

Metagenomics is sequencing DNA from a group of species from the same ecosystem. Letter A

Explanation:

Advances in bioinformatics, refinements of DNA application, and the proliferation of computational power have greatly aided the analysis of DNA sequences recovered from environmental samples, allowing the adaptation of shotgun sequencing to metagenomic samples, known also as whole metagenome shotgun or WMGS sequencing.

Shotgun metagenomics provides information both about which organisms are present and what metabolic processes are possible in the community. Because the collection of DNA from an environment is largely uncontrolled, the most abundant organisms in an environmental sample are most highly represented in the resulting sequence data.