Application and Prospects of Causal Inference in Microbiological Research

Microbial communities interact in a complicated way, which can have a detrimental effect on the host’s health either individually or collaboratively. By employing causal inference methods to analyze the characteristics of the relationship between the microbiota and host observation data, the mechani...

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Main Author: DOU Xin, LIU Yangtai, PEI Xiaoyan, DONG Qingli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: China Food Publishing Company 2023-05-01
Series:Shipin Kexue
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.spkx.net.cn/fileup/1002-6630/PDF/2023-44-9-044.pdf
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author DOU Xin, LIU Yangtai, PEI Xiaoyan, DONG Qingli
author_facet DOU Xin, LIU Yangtai, PEI Xiaoyan, DONG Qingli
author_sort DOU Xin, LIU Yangtai, PEI Xiaoyan, DONG Qingli
collection DOAJ
description Microbial communities interact in a complicated way, which can have a detrimental effect on the host’s health either individually or collaboratively. By employing causal inference methods to analyze the characteristics of the relationship between the microbiota and host observation data, the mechanism of action of microorganisms on host health can be inferred, which will help to reduce the possibility of causing unfavorable health consequences. This article reviews recent progress in the application of causal inference in the field of microbiological research, introduces the conception and development of causality, describes the paths of causal inference, modeling and interpretation, and summarizes the causal inference methods and their applications in various fields especially in the microbiological field. However, the mechanism of the causality between microbial communities and their external environments is not yet understood fully. Applying causal inference methods in research on microbial communities will be a hot topic in the future. Thus, the theory and methods of causal inference need be further refined to elucidate the interaction mechanism of microbial communities and their causality with human health.
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spelling doaj.art-49116f807d06468aa8a02e7138e36a6c2023-06-13T07:42:08ZengChina Food Publishing CompanyShipin Kexue1002-66302023-05-0144937438110.7506/spkx1002-6630-20220427-359Application and Prospects of Causal Inference in Microbiological ResearchDOU Xin, LIU Yangtai, PEI Xiaoyan, DONG Qingli0(1. School of Health Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China; 2. Inner Mongolia Dairy Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., Hohhot 010080, China)Microbial communities interact in a complicated way, which can have a detrimental effect on the host’s health either individually or collaboratively. By employing causal inference methods to analyze the characteristics of the relationship between the microbiota and host observation data, the mechanism of action of microorganisms on host health can be inferred, which will help to reduce the possibility of causing unfavorable health consequences. This article reviews recent progress in the application of causal inference in the field of microbiological research, introduces the conception and development of causality, describes the paths of causal inference, modeling and interpretation, and summarizes the causal inference methods and their applications in various fields especially in the microbiological field. However, the mechanism of the causality between microbial communities and their external environments is not yet understood fully. Applying causal inference methods in research on microbial communities will be a hot topic in the future. Thus, the theory and methods of causal inference need be further refined to elucidate the interaction mechanism of microbial communities and their causality with human health.https://www.spkx.net.cn/fileup/1002-6630/PDF/2023-44-9-044.pdfmicrobial communities; human health; causal inference; risk assessment; machine learning
spellingShingle DOU Xin, LIU Yangtai, PEI Xiaoyan, DONG Qingli
Application and Prospects of Causal Inference in Microbiological Research
Shipin Kexue
microbial communities; human health; causal inference; risk assessment; machine learning
title Application and Prospects of Causal Inference in Microbiological Research
title_full Application and Prospects of Causal Inference in Microbiological Research
title_fullStr Application and Prospects of Causal Inference in Microbiological Research
title_full_unstemmed Application and Prospects of Causal Inference in Microbiological Research
title_short Application and Prospects of Causal Inference in Microbiological Research
title_sort application and prospects of causal inference in microbiological research
topic microbial communities; human health; causal inference; risk assessment; machine learning
url https://www.spkx.net.cn/fileup/1002-6630/PDF/2023-44-9-044.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT douxinliuyangtaipeixiaoyandongqingli applicationandprospectsofcausalinferenceinmicrobiologicalresearch