Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Menon R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5786326 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
PLoS computational biology 20180116 1
Microbiota contribute to many dimensions of host phenotype, including disease. To link specific microbes to specific phenotypes, microbiome-wide association studies compare microbial abundances between two groups of samples. Abundance differences, however, reflect not only direct associations with the phenotype, but also indirect effects due to microbial interactions. We found that microbial interactions could easily generate a large number of spurious associations that provide no mechanistic in ...[more]