Statistical evaluation of diet-microbe associations.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Statistical evaluation of the association between microbial abundance and dietary variables can be done in various ways. Currently, there is no consensus on which methods are to be preferred in which circumstances. Application of particular methods seems to be based on the tradition of a particular research group, availability of experience with particular software, or depending on the outcomes of the analysis.

Results

We applied four popular methods including edgeR, limma, metagenomeSeq and shotgunFunctionalizeR, to evaluate the association between dietary variables and abundance of microbes. We found large difference in results between the methods. Our simulation studies revealed that no single method was optimal.

Conclusions

We advise researchers to run

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6506950 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature