Using Pairwise Difference Features to Measure Temporal Changes in the Microbial Ecology
M. Yazdani, L. Smarr. 2015 IEEE International Conference on Big Data. IEEE. 10/29/2015.
Abstract
The exponential affordability of DNA sequencing technologies has enabled not only the
accessible and rapid sequencing of the human genome, but the opportunity to sequence vast
numbers of multi-cellular organism and the tiniest microbes. Studying the microbes in the
human body has led us to the view that the human body is not a single organism but rather a
symbiotic ecology of microbes and human cells. The microbiome is referred to the collection of
microorganisms in our body (consisting mostly of bacteria, archaea, and some eukarya) and
outnumber our human cells ten to one. Numerous studies suggest that the microbiome may play
a critical role in a number of autoimmune diseases, with most research on inflammatory bowel
disease. The microbiome ecology can be thought of as a composition of the relative abundance
of a large number of organisms that reside in our bodies. Numerous studies suggest that
disruptions in the relative abundance of a healthy microbial ecology leads to a disease state. The
challenge remains, however, in understanding how and what changes in the composition of the
ecology leads to a disease state.