Modeling Sources of Variation in Interaction Networks Using a C. Elegans Microbiome Model - Nicole Vega

Host-associated microbiomes are shaped by networks of interactions among microbes and between microbes and the host. It is not possible to directly measure these interactions, requiring inference from co-occurrence data. Such inferences are prone to high rates of false positives and negatives, and the complications found in real data - in particular demographic noise, higher-order and frequency-dependent interactions among microbes, and variation across hosts - are not well understood. In this project a direct test will be developed using the utility of co-occurrence-based interaction networks in understanding host-associated microbial communities where these biologically realistic complications are present. Further, the PIs will test the common implicit assumption that variation in individual hosts within a population does not fundamentally alter the inter-species interactions in a microbiome, such that the same interaction network can be used to understand the microbiome. Educational

Host-associated microbiomes are shaped by networks of interactions among microbes and between microbes and the host. It is not possible to directly measure these interactions, requiring inference from co-occurrence data. Such inferences are prone to high rates of false positives and negatives, and the complications found in real data - in particular demographic noise, higher-order and frequency-dependent interactions among microbes, and variation across hosts - are not well understood. In this project a direct test will be developed using the utility of co-occurrence-based interaction networks