Characterising functional redundancy in microbiome communities via relative entropy.

ABSTRACT: Functional redundancy has been hypothesised to be at the core of the well-evidenced relation between high ecological microbiome diversity and human health. Here, we conceptualise and operationalise functional redundancy on a single-trait level for functionally annotated microbial communities, utilising an information-theoretic approach based on relative entropy that also allows for the quantification of functional interdependency across species. Via constraint-based microbiome community modelling of a public faecal metagenomic dataset, we demonstrate that the strength of the relation between species diversity and functional redundancy is dependent on specific attributes of the function under consideration such as the rarity and the occurring functional interdependencies. Moreover, by integ

SUBMITTER: Fassler D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12013412 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature