Modelling approaches for studying the microbiome
Review article, 2019

Advances in metagenome sequencing of the human microbiome have provided a plethora of new insights and revealed a close association of this complex ecosystem with a range of human diseases. However, there is little knowledge about how the different members of the microbial community interact with each other and with the host, and we lack basic mechanistic understanding of these interactions related to health and disease. Mathematical modelling has been demonstrated to be highly advantageous for gaining insights into the dynamics and interactions of complex systems and in recent years, several modelling approaches have been proposed to enhance our understanding of the microbiome. Here, we review the latest developments and current approaches, and highlight how different modelling strategies have been applied to unravel the highly dynamic nature of the human microbiome. Furthermore, we discuss present limitations of different modelling strategies and provide a perspective of how modelling can advance understanding and offer new treatment routes to impact human health.

genome

metabolic modeling

Author

Manish Kumar

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology

University of California

Boyang Ji

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Karsten Zengler

University of California

Jens B Nielsen

Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Nature Microbiology

2058-5276 (eISSN)

Vol. 4 8 1253-1267

Subject Categories

Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified

Information Science

Computer Science

DOI

10.1038/s41564-019-0491-9

More information

Latest update

11/20/2019