Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.jprot.2019.103623
Document author version
Title (Primary) The total microbiome functions in bacteria and fungi
Author Starke, R.; Capek, P.; Morais, D.; Callister, S.J.; Jehmlich, N. ORCID logo
Source Titel Journal of Proteomics
Year 2020
Department MOLSYB
Volume 213
Page From art. 103623
Language englisch
Keywords Microbiome functions; Functional diversity; Bacteria; Fungi; Protein-coding sequences
Abstract Unveiling the relationship between phylogeny and function of the microbiome is crucial to determine its contribution to ecosystem functioning. However, while there is a considerable amount of information on microbial phylogenetic diversity, our understanding of its relationship to functional diversity is still scarce. Here we predicted the total microbiome functions of bacteria and fungi on Earth using the total known functions from level 3 of KEGG Orthology by modelling the increase of functions with increasing diversity of bacteria or fungi. For bacteria and fungi, the unsaturated model described the data significantly better (for both P <2.2e-16), suggesting the presence of two types of functions. Widespread functions ubiquitous in every living organism that make up two thirds of our current knowledge of microbiome functions are separated from rare functions from specialised enzymes present in only a few species. Given previous estimates on species richness, we predicted a global total of 35.5 million functions in bacteria and 3.2 million in fungi; of which only 0.02% and 0.14% are known today. Our approach highlights the necessity of novel and more sophisticated methods to unveil the entirety of rare functions to fully understand the involvement of the microbiome in ecosystem functioning.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22832
Starke, R., Capek, P., Morais, D., Callister, S.J., Jehmlich, N. (2020):
The total microbiome functions in bacteria and fungi
J. Proteomics 213 , art. 103623 10.1016/j.jprot.2019.103623