title: Microbiomes in light of traits: A phylogenetic perspective.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. jmartiny@uci.edu.
authors.forename: Jennifer B H
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Martiny
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Stuart E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Jay T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Lennon
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Adam C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Martiny
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D056426:Genetic Loci; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D048929:Prochlorococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics