Further Quantifying the Niche-Neutral Continuum of Human Digestive Tract Microbiomes with Near Neutral Model and Stochasticity Analysis

It is postulated that the human digestive tract (DT) from mouth to intestine is differentiated into diverse niches. For example, Segata et al. discovered that the microbiomes of diverse habitats along the DT could be distinguished as 4 types (niches) including (i) stool; (ii) sub-gingival plaques (S...

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Main Authors: Hongju (Daisy) Chen, Zhanshan (Sam) Ma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2022-11-01
Series:Evolutionary Bioinformatics
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/11769343221128540
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author Hongju (Daisy) Chen
Zhanshan (Sam) Ma
author_facet Hongju (Daisy) Chen
Zhanshan (Sam) Ma
author_sort Hongju (Daisy) Chen
collection DOAJ
description It is postulated that the human digestive tract (DT) from mouth to intestine is differentiated into diverse niches. For example, Segata et al. discovered that the microbiomes of diverse habitats along the DT could be distinguished as 4 types (niches) including (i) stool; (ii) sub-gingival plaques (SubP) and supra-gingival plaques (SupP); (iii) tongue dorsum (TD), throat (TH), palatine tonsils (PT), and saliva (Sal); and (iv) hard palate (HP) and buccal mucosa (BM), and keratinized gingiva (KG). These niches are different not only in composition, but also in metabolic potentials. In a previous study, we applied Harris et al’s multi-site neutral and Tang and Zhou’s niche-neutral hybrid models to characterize the DT niches discovered by Segata et al. Here, we complement the previous study by applying Sloan’s near-neural model and Ning et al’s stochasticity analysis framework to quantify the niche-neutral continuum of the DT microbiome distribution to shed light on the possible ecological/evolutionary mechanism that shapes the continuum. Overall but excluding the stool site, the proportion of neutral OTUs (46%) is slightly higher than that of the positive selection (38%), but significantly higher than negative selection (15%). The gut (stool) exhibited 3 to 12 times lower neutrality than other DT sites. The analysis also cross-verified our previous hypothesis that the KG ( keratinized gingiva ) is of distinct assembly dynamics in the DT microbiome, should be treated as a fifth niche. Our findings offer new insight on the long-standing debate concerning whether a minimum of 2-mm of KG width is necessary for marginal periodontal health.
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spelling doaj-art-322d7304cd3040338b4cd7ebb6b908c22025-08-20T03:08:00ZengSAGE PublishingEvolutionary Bioinformatics1176-93432022-11-011810.1177/11769343221128540Further Quantifying the Niche-Neutral Continuum of Human Digestive Tract Microbiomes with Near Neutral Model and Stochasticity AnalysisHongju (Daisy) Chen0Zhanshan (Sam) Ma1Computational Biology and Medical Ecology Lab, State Key Lab of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming, Yunnan, ChinaCenter for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, ChinaIt is postulated that the human digestive tract (DT) from mouth to intestine is differentiated into diverse niches. For example, Segata et al. discovered that the microbiomes of diverse habitats along the DT could be distinguished as 4 types (niches) including (i) stool; (ii) sub-gingival plaques (SubP) and supra-gingival plaques (SupP); (iii) tongue dorsum (TD), throat (TH), palatine tonsils (PT), and saliva (Sal); and (iv) hard palate (HP) and buccal mucosa (BM), and keratinized gingiva (KG). These niches are different not only in composition, but also in metabolic potentials. In a previous study, we applied Harris et al’s multi-site neutral and Tang and Zhou’s niche-neutral hybrid models to characterize the DT niches discovered by Segata et al. Here, we complement the previous study by applying Sloan’s near-neural model and Ning et al’s stochasticity analysis framework to quantify the niche-neutral continuum of the DT microbiome distribution to shed light on the possible ecological/evolutionary mechanism that shapes the continuum. Overall but excluding the stool site, the proportion of neutral OTUs (46%) is slightly higher than that of the positive selection (38%), but significantly higher than negative selection (15%). The gut (stool) exhibited 3 to 12 times lower neutrality than other DT sites. The analysis also cross-verified our previous hypothesis that the KG ( keratinized gingiva ) is of distinct assembly dynamics in the DT microbiome, should be treated as a fifth niche. Our findings offer new insight on the long-standing debate concerning whether a minimum of 2-mm of KG width is necessary for marginal periodontal health.https://doi.org/10.1177/11769343221128540
spellingShingle Hongju (Daisy) Chen
Zhanshan (Sam) Ma
Further Quantifying the Niche-Neutral Continuum of Human Digestive Tract Microbiomes with Near Neutral Model and Stochasticity Analysis
Evolutionary Bioinformatics
title Further Quantifying the Niche-Neutral Continuum of Human Digestive Tract Microbiomes with Near Neutral Model and Stochasticity Analysis
title_full Further Quantifying the Niche-Neutral Continuum of Human Digestive Tract Microbiomes with Near Neutral Model and Stochasticity Analysis
title_fullStr Further Quantifying the Niche-Neutral Continuum of Human Digestive Tract Microbiomes with Near Neutral Model and Stochasticity Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Further Quantifying the Niche-Neutral Continuum of Human Digestive Tract Microbiomes with Near Neutral Model and Stochasticity Analysis
title_short Further Quantifying the Niche-Neutral Continuum of Human Digestive Tract Microbiomes with Near Neutral Model and Stochasticity Analysis
title_sort further quantifying the niche neutral continuum of human digestive tract microbiomes with near neutral model and stochasticity analysis
url https://doi.org/10.1177/11769343221128540
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