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Exploring Linkages between Taxonomic and Functional Profiles of the Human Microbiome

Microbiome studies typically focus on characterizing the taxonomic and functional profiles of the microbes within a community. Functional profiling is generally thought to be superior to taxonomic profiling for investigating human-microbe interactions, but there are several limitations and challenge...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Langille, Morgan G. I.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Microbiology 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5881027/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29629420
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00163-17
Descripción
Sumario:Microbiome studies typically focus on characterizing the taxonomic and functional profiles of the microbes within a community. Functional profiling is generally thought to be superior to taxonomic profiling for investigating human-microbe interactions, but there are several limitations and challenges to existing approaches. This Perspective discusses the current sequencing and bioinformatic methods for producing taxonomic and functional profiles, recent studies utilizing and comparing these technologies, and the existing challenges and limitations of these data. In addition, functional versus taxonomic conservation across the population is questioned, while future research that focuses on investigating the taxonomic diversity of microbial functions is proposed.