Inter-Individual Diversity Scaling Analysis of the Human Virome With Classic Diversity-Area Relationship (DAR) Modeling

The human virome is a critical component of the human microbiome, and it is believed to hold the richest diversity within human microbiomes. Yet, the inter-individual scaling (changes) of the human virome has not been formally investigated to the best of our knowledge. Here we fill the gap by applying diversity-area relationship (DAR) modeling (a recent extension to the classic species-area law in biodiversity and biogeography research) for analyzing four large datasets of the human virome with three DAR profiles: DAR scaling (z)—measuring the inter-individual heterogeneity in virome diversity, MAD (maximal accrual diversity: D(max)) and LGD ratio (ratio of local diversity to global diversity)—measuring the percentage of individual to population level diversity. Our analyses suggest: (i) The diversity scaling parameter (z) is rather resilient against the diseases as indicated by the lack of significant differences between the healthy and diseased treatments. (ii) The potential maximal accrual diversity (D(max)) is less resilient and may vary between the healthy and diseased groups or between different body sites. (iii) The LGD ratio of bacterial communities is much smaller than for viral communities, and relates to the comparatively greater heterogeneity between local vs. global diversity levels found for bacterial-biomes.