Deciphering Functional Redundancy in the Human Microbiome

ORAL

Abstract

Although the taxonomic composition of the human microbiome varies tremendously across individuals, its gene composition or functional capacity is highly conserved. The striking conservation of functional capacity implies an ecological property known as functional redundancy. Although this redundancy is thought to underlie the stability and resilience of the human microbiome, its origin is elusive. Here, we decipher the basis for functional redundancy in the human microbiome by analyzing its genomic content network --- a bipartite graph that links microbes to the genes in their genomes. We show that this network exhibits special topological features that favor high functional redundancy. Moreover, we find that the assemblage of microbes plays a more important role than their abundances in determining the high functional redundancy of the human microbiome. We propose a simple genome evolution model to explain the key topological features observed in the real genomic content network. These observations deepen our understanding of species-function relationships, a critical step for developing function-based diagnostics and therapeutics.

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Presenters

  • Liang Tian

    • Department of Physics, Hong Kong Baptist University

Authors

  • Liang Tian

    • Department of Physics, Hong Kong Baptist University

  • Xuwen Wang

    • Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

  • Angkun Wu

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick
    • Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick
    • Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

  • Yuhang Fan

    • Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

  • Jonathan Friedman

    • Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
    • Hebrew University

  • Amber Dahlin

    • Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

  • Matthew Waldor

    • Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

  • George Weinstock

    • The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine

  • Scott Weiss

    • Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
    • HMS
    • Harvard Medical School

  • Yang-Yu Liu

    • Harvard Medical School
    • Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
    • HMS
    • Harvard University
    • Channing Division of Network Medicine, Harvard Medical School