Analysis of high-dimensional metabolomics data with complex temporal dynamics using RM-ASCA.

The intricate dependency structure of biological "omics" data, particularly those originating from longitudinal intervention studies with frequently sampled repeated measurements renders the analysis of such data challenging. The high-dimensionality, inter-relatedness of multiple outcomes, and heterogeneity in the studied systems all add to the difficulty in deriving meaningful information. In addition, the subtle differences in dynamics often deemed meaningful in nutritional intervention studies can be particularly challenging to quantify. In this work we demonstrate the use of quantitative longitudinal models within the repeated-measures ANOVA simultaneous component analysis+ (RM-ASCA+) framework to capture the dynamics in frequently sampled longitudinal data with multivariate outcomes. We illustrate the use of linear mixed models with polynomial and spline basis expansion of the time variable within RM-ASCA+ in order to quantify non-linear dynamics in a simulation study as well as in a metabolomics data set. We show that the proposed approach presents a convenient and interpretable way to systematically quantify and summarize multivariate outcomes in longitudinal studies while accounting for proper within subject dependency structures.

Repeated measures ASCA+ for analysis of longitudinal intervention studies with multivariate outcome data.

Longitudinal intervention studies with repeated measurements over time are an important type of experimental design in biomedical research. Due to the advent of "omics"-sciences (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics), longitudinal studies generate increasingly multivariate outcome data. Analysis of such data must take both the longitudinal intervention structure and multivariate nature of the data into account. The ASCA+-framework combines general linear models with principal component analysis and can be used to separate and visualize the multivariate effect of different experimental factors. However, this methodology has not yet been developed for the more complex designs often found in longitudinal intervention studies, which may be unbalanced, involve randomized interventions, and have substantial missing data. Here we describe a new methodology, repeated measures ASCA+ (RM-ASCA+), and show how it can be used to model metabolic changes over time, and compare metabolic changes between groups, in both randomized and non-randomized intervention studies. Tools for both visualization and model validation are discussed. This approach can facilitate easier interpretation of data from longitudinal clinical trials with multivariate outcomes.

Principal component analysis of binary genomics data.

Motivation: Genome-wide measurements of genetic and epigenetic alterations are generating more and more high-dimensional binary data. The special mathematical characteristics of binary data make the direct use of the classical principal component analysis (PCA) model to explore low-dimensional structures less obvious. Although there are several PCA alternatives for binary data in the psychometric, data analysis and machine learning literature, they are not well known to the bioinformatics community. Results: In this article, we introduce the motivation and rationale of some parametric and nonparametric versions of PCA specifically geared for binary data. Using both realistic simulations of binary data as well as mutation, CNA and methylation data of the Genomic Determinants of Sensitivity in Cancer 1000 (GDSC1000), the methods were explored for their performance with respect to finding the correct number of components, overfit, finding back the correct low-dimensional structure, variable importance, etc. The results show that if a low-dimensional structure exists in the data, that most of the methods can find it. When assuming a probabilistic generating process is underlying the data, we recommend to use the parametric logistic PCA model, while when such an assumption is not valid and the data are considered as given, the nonparametric Gifi model is recommended. Availability: The codes to reproduce the results in this article are available at the homepage of the Biosystems Data Analysis group (www.bdagroup.nl).

Systematic selection of competing metabolomics methods in a metabolite-sensory relationship study.

INTRODUCTION: The relationship between the chemical composition of food products and their sensory profile is a complex association confronting many challenges. However, new untargeted methodologies are helping correlate metabolites with sensory characteristics in a simpler manner. Nevertheless, in the pilot phase of a project, where only a small set of products are used to explore the relationships, choices have to be made about the most appropriate untargeted metabolomics methodology. OBJECTIVE: To provide a framework for selecting a metabolite-sensory methodology based on: the quality of measurements, the relevance of the detected metabolites in terms of distinguishing between products or in terms of whether they can be related to the sensory attributes of the products. METHODS: In this paper we introduce a systematic approach to explore all these different aspects driving the choice for the most appropriate metabolomics method. RESULTS: As an example we have used a tomato soup project where the choice between two sampling methods (SPME and SBSE) had to be made. The results are not always consistently pointing to the same method as being the best. SPME was able to detect metabolites with a better precision, SBSE seemed to be able to provide a better distinction between the soups. CONCLUSION: The three levels of comparison provide information on how the methods could perform in a follow up study and will help the researcher to make a final selection for the most appropriate method based on their strengths and weaknesses.

Increased comparability between RNA-Seq and microarray data by utilization of gene sets.

The field of transcriptomics uses and measures mRNA as a proxy of gene expression. There are currently two major platforms in use for quantifying mRNA, microarray and RNA-Seq. Many comparative studies have shown that their results are not always consistent. In this study we aim to find a robust method to increase comparability of both platforms enabling data analysis of merged data from both platforms. We transformed high dimensional transcriptomics data from two different platforms into a lower dimensional, and biologically relevant dataset by calculating enrichment scores based on gene set collections for all samples. We compared the similarity between data from both platforms based on the raw data and on the enrichment scores. We show that the performed data transforms the data in a biologically relevant way and filters out noise which leads to increased platform concordance. We validate the procedure using predictive models built with microarray based enrichment scores to predict subtypes of breast cancer using enrichment scores based on sequenced data. Although microarray and RNA-Seq expression levels might appear different, transforming them into biologically relevant gene set enrichment scores significantly increases their correlation, which is a step forward in data integration of the two platforms. The gene set collections were shown to contain biologically relevant gene sets. More in-depth investigation on the effect of the composition, size, and number of gene sets that are used for the transformation is suggested for future research.

Variable selection and validation in multivariate modelling.

MOTIVATION: Validation of variable selection and predictive performance is crucial in construction of robust multivariate models that generalize well, minimize overfitting and facilitate interpretation of results. Inappropriate variable selection leads instead to selection bias, thereby increasing the risk of model overfitting and false positive discoveries. Although several algorithms exist to identify a minimal set of most informative variables (i.e. the minimal-optimal problem), few can select all variables related to the research question (i.e. the all-relevant problem). Robust algorithms combining identification of both minimal-optimal and all-relevant variables with proper cross-validation are urgently needed. RESULTS: We developed the MUVR algorithm to improve predictive performance and minimize overfitting and false positives in multivariate analysis. In the MUVR algorithm, minimal variable selection is achieved by performing recursive variable elimination in a repeated double cross-validation (rdCV) procedure. The algorithm supports partial least squares and random forest modelling, and simultaneously identifies minimal-optimal and all-relevant variable sets for regression, classification and multilevel analyses. Using three authentic omics datasets, MUVR yielded parsimonious models with minimal overfitting and improved model performance compared with state-of-the-art rdCV. Moreover, MUVR showed advantages over other variable selection algorithms, i.e. Boruta and VSURF, including simultaneous variable selection and validation scheme and wider applicability. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Algorithms, data, scripts and tutorial are open source and available as an R package ('MUVR') at https://gitlab.com/CarlBrunius/MUVR.git. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Targeted proteomic response to coffee consumption.

PURPOSE: Coffee is widely consumed and implicated in numerous health outcomes but the mechanisms by which coffee contributes to health is unclear. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of coffee drinking on candidate proteins involved in cardiovascular, immuno-oncological and neurological pathways. METHODS: We examined fasting serum samples collected from a previously reported single blinded, three-stage clinical trial. Forty-seven habitual coffee consumers refrained from drinking coffee for 1 month, consumed 4 cups of coffee/day in the second month and 8 cups/day in the third month. Samples collected after each coffee stage were analyzed using three multiplex proximity extension assays that, after quality control, measured a total of 247 proteins implicated in cardiovascular, immuno-oncological and neurological pathways and of which 59 were previously linked to coffee exposure. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to test the relationship between coffee treatment and each protein. RESULTS: Two neurology-related proteins including carboxypeptidase M (CPM) and neutral ceramidase (N-CDase or ASAH2), significantly increased after coffee intake (P < 0.05 and Q < 0.05). An additional 46 proteins were nominally associated with coffee intake (P < 0.05 and Q > 0.05); 9, 8 and 29 of these proteins related to cardiovascular, immuno-oncological and neurological pathways, respectively, and the levels of 41 increased with coffee intake. CONCLUSIONS: CPM and N-CDase levels increased in response to coffee intake. These proteins have not previously been linked to coffee and are thus novel markers of coffee response worthy of further study. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY: http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN12547806.

iTOP: inferring the topology of omics data.

Motivation: In biology, we are often faced with multiple datasets recorded on the same set of objects, such as multi-omics and phenotypic data of the same tumors. These datasets are typically not independent from each other. For example, methylation may influence gene expression, which may, in turn, influence drug response. Such relationships can strongly affect analyses performed on the data, as we have previously shown for the identification of biomarkers of drug response. Therefore, it is important to be able to chart the relationships between datasets. Results: We present iTOP, a methodology to infer a topology of relationships between datasets. We base this methodology on the RV coefficient, a measure of matrix correlation, which can be used to determine how much information is shared between two datasets. We extended the RV coefficient for partial matrix correlations, which allows the use of graph reconstruction algorithms, such as the PC algorithm, to infer the topologies. In addition, since multi-omics data often contain binary data (e.g. mutations), we also extended the RV coefficient for binary data. Applying iTOP to pharmacogenomics data, we found that gene expression acts as a mediator between most other datasets and drug response: only proteomics clearly shares information with drug response that is not present in gene expression. Based on this result, we used TANDEM, a method for drug response prediction, to identify which variables predictive of drug response were distinct to either gene expression or proteomics. Availability and implementation: An implementation of our methodology is available in the R package iTOP on CRAN. Additionally, an R Markdown document with code to reproduce all figures is provided as Supplementary Material. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Training for translation between disciplines: a philosophy for life and data sciences curricula.

Motivation: Our society has become data-rich to the extent that research in many areas has become impossible without computational approaches. Educational programmes seem to be lagging behind this development. At the same time, there is a growing need not only for strong data science skills, but foremost for the ability to both translate between tools and methods on the one hand, and application and problems on the other. Results: Here we present our experiences with shaping and running a masters' programme in bioinformatics and systems biology in Amsterdam. From this, we have developed a comprehensive philosophy on how translation in training may be achieved in a dynamic and multidisciplinary research area, which is described here. We furthermore describe two requirements that enable translation, which we have found to be crucial: sufficient depth and focus on multidisciplinary topic areas, coupled with a balanced breadth from adjacent disciplines. Finally, we present concrete suggestions on how this may be implemented in practice, which may be relevant for the effectiveness of life science and data science curricula in general, and of particular interest to those who are in the process of setting up such curricula. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Common and distinct variation in data fusion of designed experimental data.

INTRODUCTION: Integrative analysis of multiple data sets can provide complementary information about the studied biological system. However, data fusion of multiple biological data sets can be complicated as data sets might contain different sources of variation due to underlying experimental factors. Therefore, taking the experimental design of data sets into account could be of importance in data fusion concept. OBJECTIVES: In the present work, we aim to incorporate the experimental design information in the integrative analysis of multiple designed data sets. METHODS: Here we describe penalized exponential ANOVA simultaneous component analysis (PE-ASCA), a new method for integrative analysis of data sets from multiple compartments or analytical platforms with the same underlying experimental design. RESULTS: Using two simulated cases, the result of simultaneous component analysis (SCA), penalized exponential simultaneous component analysis (P-ESCA) and ANOVA-simultaneous component analysis (ASCA) are compared with the proposed method. Furthermore, real metabolomics data obtained from NMR analysis of two different brains tissues (hypothalamus and midbrain) from the same piglets with an underlying experimental design is investigated by PE-ASCA. CONCLUSIONS: This method provides an improved understanding of the common and distinct variation in response to different experimental factors.

Metabolomics variable selection and classification in the presence of observations below the detection limit using an extension of ERp.

BACKGROUND: ERp is a variable selection and classification method for metabolomics data. ERp uses minimized classification error rates, based on data from a control and experimental group, to test the null hypothesis of no difference between the distributions of variables over the two groups. If the associated p-values are significant they indicate discriminatory variables (i.e. informative metabolites). The p-values are calculated assuming a common continuous strictly increasing cumulative distribution under the null hypothesis. This assumption is violated when zero-valued observations can occur with positive probability, a characteristic of GC-MS metabolomics data, disqualifying ERp in this context. This paper extends ERp to address two sources of zero-valued observations: (i) zeros reflecting the complete absence of a metabolite from a sample (true zeros); and (ii) zeros reflecting a measurement below the detection limit. This is achieved by allowing the null cumulative distribution function to take the form of a mixture between a jump at zero and a continuous strictly increasing function. The extended ERp approach is referred to as XERp. RESULTS: XERp is no longer non-parametric, but its null distributions depend only on one parameter, the true proportion of zeros. Under the null hypothesis this parameter can be estimated by the proportion of zeros in the available data. XERp is shown to perform well with regard to bias and power. To demonstrate the utility of XERp, it is applied to GC-MS data from a metabolomics study on tuberculosis meningitis in infants and children. We find that XERp is able to provide an informative shortlist of discriminatory variables, while attaining satisfactory classification accuracy for new subjects in a leave-one-out cross-validation context. CONCLUSION: XERp takes into account the distributional structure of data with a probability mass at zero without requiring any knowledge of the detection limit of the metabolomics platform. XERp is able to identify variables that discriminate between two groups by simultaneously extracting information from the difference in the proportion of zeros and shifts in the distributions of the non-zero observations. XERp uses simple rules to classify new subjects and a weight pair to adjust for unequal sample sizes or sensitivity and specificity requirements.

Variable selection for binary classification using error rate p-values applied to metabolomics data.

BACKGROUND: Metabolomics datasets are often high-dimensional though only a limited number of variables are expected to be informative given a specific research question. The important task of selecting informative variables can therefore become complex. In this paper we look at discriminating between two groups. Two tasks need to be performed: (i) finding variables which differ between the two groups; and (ii) determining how the selected variables can be used to classify new subjects. We introduce an approach using minimum classification error rates as test statistics to find discriminatory and therefore informative variables. The thresholds resulting in the minimum error rates can be used to classify new subjects. This approach transforms error rates into p-values and is referred to as ERp. RESULTS: We show that non-parametric hypothesis testing, based on minimum classification error rates as test statistics, can find statistically significantly shifted variables. The discriminatory ability of variables becomes more apparent when error rates are evaluated based on their corresponding p-values, as relatively high error rates can still be statistically significant. ERp can handle unequal and small group sizes, as well as account for the cost of misclassification. ERp retains (if known) or reveals (if unknown) the shift direction, aiding in biological interpretation. The threshold resulting in the minimum error rate can immediately be used to classify new subjects. We use NMR generated metabolomics data to illustrate how ERp is able to discriminate subjects diagnosed with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infected meningitis from a control group. The list of discriminatory variables produced by ERp contains all biologically relevant variables with appropriate shift directions discussed in the original paper from which this data is taken. CONCLUSIONS: ERp performs variable selection and classification, is non-parametric and aids biological interpretation while handling unequal group sizes and misclassification costs. All this is achieved by a single approach which is easy to perform and interpret. ERp has the potential to address many other characteristics of metabolomics data. Future research aims to extend ERp to account for a large proportion of observations below the detection limit, as well as expand on interactions between variables.

Separating common from distinctive variation.

BACKGROUND: Joint and individual variation explained (JIVE), distinct and common simultaneous component analysis (DISCO) and O2-PLS, a two-block (X-Y) latent variable regression method with an integral OSC filter can all be used for the integrated analysis of multiple data sets and decompose them in three terms: a low(er)-rank approximation capturing common variation across data sets, low(er)-rank approximations for structured variation distinctive for each data set, and residual noise. In this paper these three methods are compared with respect to their mathematical properties and their respective ways of defining common and distinctive variation. RESULTS: The methods are all applied on simulated data and mRNA and miRNA data-sets from GlioBlastoma Multiform (GBM) brain tumors to examine their overlap and differences. When the common variation is abundant, all methods are able to find the correct solution. With real data however, complexities in the data are treated differently by the three methods. CONCLUSIONS: All three methods have their own approach to estimate common and distinctive variation with their specific strength and weaknesses. Due to their orthogonality properties and their used algorithms their view on the data is slightly different. By assuming orthogonality between common and distinctive, true natural or biological phenomena that may not be orthogonal at all might be misinterpreted.

A systematic approach to obtain validated partial least square models for predicting lipoprotein subclasses from serum NMR spectra.

A systematic approach is described for building validated PLS models that predict cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in lipoprotein subclasses in fasting serum from a normolipidemic, healthy population. The PLS models were built on diffusion-edited (1)H NMR spectra and calibrated on HPLC-derived lipoprotein subclasses. The PLS models were validated using an independent test set. In addition to total VLDL, LDL, and HDL lipoproteins, statistically significant PLS models were obtained for 13 subclasses, including 5 VLDLs (particle size 64-31.3 nm), 4 LDLs (particle size 28.6-20.7 nm) and 4 HDLs (particle size 13.5-9.8 nm). The best models were obtained for triglycerides in VLDL (0.82 < Q(2) <0.92) and HDL (0.69 < Q(2) <0.79) subclasses and for cholesterol in HDL subclasses (0.68 < Q(2) <0.96). Larger variations in the model performance were observed for triglycerides in LDL subclasses and cholesterol in VLDL and LDL subclasses. The potential of the NMR-PLS model was assessed by comparing the LPD of 52 subjects before and after a 4-week treatment with dietary supplements that were hypothesized to change blood lipids. The supplements induced significant (p < 0.001) changes on multiple subclasses, all of which clearly exceeded the prediction errors.

Identifying inhibitory compounds in lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates using an exometabolomics approach.

BACKGROUND: Inhibitors are formed that reduce the fermentation performance of fermenting yeast during the pretreatment process of lignocellulosic biomass. An exometabolomics approach was applied to systematically identify inhibitors in lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates. RESULTS: We studied the composition and fermentability of 24 different biomass hydrolysates. To create diversity, the 24 hydrolysates were prepared from six different biomass types, namely sugar cane bagasse, corn stover, wheat straw, barley straw, willow wood chips and oak sawdust, and with four different pretreatment methods, i.e. dilute acid, mild alkaline, alkaline/peracetic acid and concentrated acid. Their composition and that of fermentation samples generated with these hydrolysates were analyzed with two GC-MS methods. Either ethyl acetate extraction or ethyl chloroformate derivatization was used before conducting GC-MS to prevent sugars are overloaded in the chromatograms, which obscure the detection of less abundant compounds. Using multivariate PLS-2CV and nPLS-2CV data analysis models, potential inhibitors were identified through establishing relationship between fermentability and composition of the hydrolysates. These identified compounds were tested for their effects on the growth of the model yeast, Saccharomyces. cerevisiae CEN.PK 113-7D, confirming that the majority of the identified compounds were indeed inhibitors. CONCLUSION: Inhibitory compounds in lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates were successfully identified using a non-targeted systematic approach: metabolomics. The identified inhibitors include both known ones, such as furfural, HMF and vanillin, and novel inhibitors, namely sorbic acid and phenylacetaldehyde.

Metabolic fate of polyphenols in the human superorganism.

Dietary polyphenols are components of many foods such as tea, fruit, and vegetables and are associated with several beneficial health effects although, so far, largely based on epidemiological studies. The intact forms of complex dietary polyphenols have limited bioavailability, with low circulating levels in plasma. A major part of the polyphenols persists in the colon, where the resident microbiota produce metabolites that can undergo further metabolism upon entering systemic circulation. Unraveling the complex metabolic fate of polyphenols in this human superorganism requires joint deployment of in vitro and humanized mouse models and human intervention trials. Within these systems, the variation in diversity and functionality of the colonic microbiota can increasingly be captured by rapidly developing microbiomics and metabolomics technologies. Furthermore, metabolomics is coming to grips with the large biological variation superimposed on relatively subtle effects of dietary interventions. In particular when metabolomics is deployed in conjunction with a longitudinal study design, quantitative nutrikinetic signatures can be obtained. These signatures can be used to define nutritional phenotypes with different kinetic characteristics for the bioconversion capacity for polyphenols. Bottom-up as well as top-down approaches need to be pursued to link gut microbial diversity to functionality in nutritional phenotypes and, ultimately, to bioactivity of polyphenols. This approach will pave the way for personalization of nutrition based on gut microbial functionality of individuals or populations.

A strategy for differential abundance analysis of sparse microbiome data with group-wise structured zeros.

Comparing the abundance of microbial communities between different groups or obtained under different experimental conditions using count sequence data is a challenging task due to various issues such as inflated zero counts, overdispersion, and non-normality. Several methods and procedures based on counts, their transformation and compositionality have been proposed in the literature to detect differentially abundant species in datasets containing hundreds to thousands of microbial species. Despite efforts to address the large numbers of zeros present in microbiome datasets, even after careful data preprocessing, the performance of existing methods is impaired by the presence of inflated zero counts and group-wise structured zeros (i.e. all zero counts in a group). We propose and validate using extensive simulations an approach combining two differential abundance testing methods, namely DESeq2-ZINBWaVE and DESeq2, to address the issues of zero-inflation and group-wise structured zeros, respectively. This combined approach was subsequently successfully applied to two plant microbiome datasets that revealed a number of taxa as interesting candidates for further experimental validation.

The diagnostic potential of urine in paediatric patients undergoing initial treatment for tuberculous meningitis.

Tuberculous meningitis (TBM)-the extrapulmonary form of tuberculosis, is the most severe complication associated with tuberculosis, particularly in infants and children. The gold standard for the diagnosis of TBM requires cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) through lumbar puncture-an invasive sample collection method, and currently available CSF assays are often not sufficient for a definitive TBM diagnosis. Urine is metabolite-rich and relatively unexplored in terms of its potential to diagnose neuroinfectious diseases. We used an untargeted proton magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) metabolomics approach to compare the urine from 32 patients with TBM (stratified into stages 1, 2 and 3) against that from 39 controls in a South African paediatric cohort. Significant spectral bins had to satisfy three of our four strict cut-off quantitative statistical criteria. Five significant biological metabolites were identified-1-methylnicotinamide, 3-hydroxyisovaleric acid, 5-aminolevulinic acid, N-acetylglutamine and methanol-which had no correlation with medication metabolites. ROC analysis revealed that methanol lacked diagnostic sensitivity, but the other four metabolites showed good diagnostic potential. Furthermore, we compared mild (stage 1) TBM and severe (stages 2 and 3) TBM, and our multivariate metabolic model could successfully classify severe but not mild TBM. Our results show that urine can potentially be used to diagnose severe TBM.

Application of NMR-based metabonomics suggests a relationship between betaine absorption and elevated creatine plasma concentrations in catheterised sows.

The objective of the present explorative study was to determine the absorption dynamics when feeding diets varying in types and levels of dietary fibre in a catheterised animal model. A total of six sows were fed a diet low in fibre (LF), a diet high in soluble fibre and a diet high in insoluble fibre in a repeated 3 × 3 cross-over design. Plasma samples were collected from the mesenteric artery and the portal vein to determine different absorption phases by ¹H NMR spectroscopy-based metabonomics. Time profiles were determined for plasma levels of specific metabolites and for the absorption of these metabolites from the small intestine. The LF diet resulted in a higher betaine concentration in the blood than the two high-fibre diets (P=0·008). This leads to higher plasma concentrations of methionine (P=0·0028) and creatine (P=0·020) of endogenous origin. In conclusion, the use of NMR spectroscopy for measuring nutrient uptake in the present study elucidated the relationship between betaine uptake and elevated creatine plasma concentrations.

Effect of strigolactones on recruitment of the rice root-associated microbiome.

Strigolactones are endogenous plant hormones regulating plant development and are exuded into the rhizosphere when plants experience nutrient deficiency. There, they promote the mutualistic association of plants with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that help the plant with the uptake of nutrients from the soil. This shows that plants actively establish-through the exudation of strigolactones-mutualistic interactions with microbes to overcome inadequate nutrition. The signaling function of strigolactones could possibly extend to other microbial partners, but the effect of strigolactones on the global root and rhizosphere microbiome remains poorly understood. Therefore, we analyzed the bacterial and fungal microbial communities of 16 rice genotypes differing in their root strigolactone exudation. Using multivariate analyses, distinctive differences in the microbiome composition were uncovered depending on strigolactone exudation. Moreover, the results of regression modeling showed that structural differences in the exuded strigolactones affected different sets of microbes. In particular, orobanchol was linked to the relative abundance of Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia and Acidobacteria that potentially solubilize phosphate, while 4-deoxyorobanchol was associated with the genera Dyella and Umbelopsis. With this research, we provide new insight into the role of strigolactones in the interplay between plants and microbes in the rhizosphere.