Proteobacteria explain significant functional variability in the human gut microbiome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

While human gut microbiomes vary significantly in taxonomic composition, biological pathway abundance is surprisingly invariable across hosts. We hypothesized that healthy microbiomes appear functionally redundant due to factors that obscure differences in gene abundance between individuals.

Results

To account for these biases, we developed a powerful test of gene variability called CCoDA, which is applicable to shotgun metagenomes from any environment and can integrate data from multiple studies. Our analysis of healthy human fecal metagenomes from three separate cohorts revealed thousands of genes whose abundance differs significantly and consistently between people, including glycolytic enzymes, lipopolysaccharide biosynthetic genes, and secretion systems. Even

SUBMITTER: Bradley PH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5363007 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature