Large-scale microbiome data initiatives call for diversity.

Abstract

High variability in human gut microbiota is a challenge in the identification of consistent microbe-disease associations. Two Cell papers by Nishijima et al. and Abdill, Graham, et al. addressed this by curating large public microbiome datasets. They highlight long overlooked drivers of gut microbiome variance, such as fecal microbial biomass and geographical locations of study participants, necessitating diverse population representation in microbiome research.