DivCom

DivCom partitions and compares microbial community profiles to reveal intrinsic subclusters and improve beta diversity analysis.

Key Features:

• Automated Subcluster Partitioning: Systematically divides samples into an appropriate number of clusters to reveal inner structure and unexpected subclusters within groups.
• Distance-Based Comparisons: Calculates distances of each profile to cluster centers and compares these distances to evaluate relationships among microbial communities.
• Advanced Beta Diversity Analysis: Combines intra-group and inter-group comparisons to provide a more nuanced assessment of beta diversity beyond conventional dissimilarity-matrix approaches.

Scientific Applications:

• Microbial community structure analysis: Applicable to studies requiring identification and comparison of intrinsic substructures within and between microbial groups.
• Clinical microbiome treatment response assessment: Applied to assess the response of anemic patients with or without inflammatory bowel disease to various iron replacement therapies.

Methodology:

Systematic clustering of samples into subclusters based on microbial profiles, followed by calculation of distances from each profile to cluster centers for group comparisons.