Department Geoinformation, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany.
DIGIT Digital Transformation & IT, Helmholtz Munich, Germany.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2024 Sep 17;20(9):e1012359. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012359. eCollection 2024 Sep.
Considering biological systems as information processing entities and analyzing their organizational structure via information-theoretic measures has become an established approach in life sciences. We transfer this framework to a field of broad general interest, the human gut microbiome. We use BacArena, a software combining agent-based modelling and flux-balance analysis, to simulate a simplified human intestinal microbiome (SIHUMI). In a first step, we derive information theoretic measures from the simulated abundance data, and, in a second step, relate them to the metabolic processes underlying the abundance data. Our study provides further evidence on the role of active information storage as an indicator of unexpected structural change in the observed system. Besides, we show that information transfer reflects coherent behavior in the microbial community, both as a reaction to environmental changes and as a result of direct effective interaction. In this sense, purely abundance-based information theoretic measures can provide meaningful insight on metabolic interactions within bacterial communities. Furthermore, we shed light on the important however little noticed technical aspect of distinguishing immediate and delayed effects in the interpretation of local information theoretical measures.
将生物系统视为信息处理实体，并通过信息论度量来分析其组织结构，这已经成为生命科学中的一种既定方法。我们将这个框架转移到一个广泛关注的领域，即人类肠道微生物组。我们使用 BacArena，一个结合了基于代理的建模和通量平衡分析的软件，来模拟一个简化的人类肠道微生物组（SIHUMI）。在第一步中，我们从模拟的丰度数据中推导出信息论度量，并在第二步中将它们与丰度数据背后的代谢过程联系起来。我们的研究进一步证明了主动信息存储作为观察系统中意外结构变化的指标的作用。此外，我们还表明，信息传递反映了微生物群落中的相干行为，既是对环境变化的反应，也是直接有效相互作用的结果。在这个意义上，纯粹基于丰度的信息论度量可以为细菌群落内部的代谢相互作用提供有意义的见解。此外，我们还揭示了在解释局部信息理论度量时区分即时和延迟效应的重要但鲜为人知的技术方面。
