Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 350, Issue 6261, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.aac9323
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [DEB-1442230, DEB-144246, OCE-1332740, OCE-1046297]
- U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) [DE-PS02-09ER09-25]
- U.S. Army Research Office [W911NF-14-1-0411]
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1442246] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1442230] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Ocean Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1046297] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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A focus on the phenotypic characteristics of microorganisms-their traits-offers a path for interpreting the growing amount of microbiome data. We review key aspects of microbial traits, as well as approaches used to assay their phylogenetic distribution. Recent studies reveal that microbial traits are differentially conserved across the tree of life and appear to be conserved in a hierarchical fashion, possibly linked to their biochemical complexity. These results suggest a predictive framework whereby the genetic (or taxonomic) resolution of microbiome variation among samples provides information about the traits under selection. The organizational parallels seen among human and free-living microbiomes seem to support this idea. Developments in this framework may offer predictions not only for how microbial composition responds to changing environmental conditions, but also for how these changes may alter the health or functioning in human, engineered, and environmental systems.
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