Extensive strain-level copy-number variation across human gut microbiome species.

ABSTRACT: Within each bacterial species, different strains may vary in the set of genes they encode or in the copy number of these genes. Yet, taxonomic characterization of the human microbiota is often limited to the species level or to previously sequenced strains, and accordingly, the prevalence of intra-species variation, its functional role, and its relation to host health remain unclear. Here, we present a comprehensive large-scale analysis of intra-species copy-number variation in the gut microbiome, introducing a rigorous computational pipeline for detecting such variation directly from shotgun metagenomic data. We uncover a large set of variable genes in numerous species and demonstrate that this variation has significant functional and clinically relevant implications. We additionally infe

SUBMITTER: Greenblum S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4507803 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature