From hairballs to hypotheses-biological insights from microbial networks.

ABSTRACT: Microbial networks are an increasingly popular tool to investigate microbial community structure, as they integrate multiple types of information and may represent systems-level behaviour. Interpreting these networks is not straightforward, and the biological implications of network properties are unclear. Analysis of microbial networks allows researchers to predict hub species and species interactions. Additionally, such analyses can help identify alternative community states and niches. Here, we review factors that can result in spurious predictions and address emergent properties that may be meaningful in the context of the microbiome. We also give an overview of studies that analyse microbial networks to identify new hypotheses. Moreover, we show in a simulation how network properties

SUBMITTER: Rottjers L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6199531 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature