A Bayesian Approach to Inferring the Phylogenetic Structure of Communities from Metagenomic Data

Abstract Metagenomics provides a powerful new tool set for investigating evolutionary interactions with the environment. However, an absence of model-based statistical methods means that researchers are often not able to make full use of this complex information. We present a Bayesian method for inf...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genetics
Main Authors: O’Brien, John D, Didelot, Xavier, Iqbal, Zamin, Amenga-Etego, Lucas, Ahiska, Bartu, Falush, Daniel
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.114.161299
https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article-pdf/197/3/925/50036917/genetics0925.pdf
Description
Summary:Abstract Metagenomics provides a powerful new tool set for investigating evolutionary interactions with the environment. However, an absence of model-based statistical methods means that researchers are often not able to make full use of this complex information. We present a Bayesian method for inferring the phylogenetic relationship among related organisms found within metagenomic samples. Our approach exploits variation in the frequency of taxa among samples to simultaneously infer each lineage haplotype, the phylogenetic tree connecting them, and their frequency within each sample. Applications of the algorithm to simulated data show that our method can recover a substantial fraction of the phylogenetic structure even in the presence of high rates of migration among sample sites. We provide examples of the method applied to data from green sulfur bacteria recovered from an Antarctic lake, plastids from mixed Plasmodium falciparum infections, and virulent Neisseria meningitidis samples.