I'm new to gut microbiome studies. I would like to know how to calculate Firmacute/Bcteriodes ratio? also for a very small sample size which statistical test is best to compare the gut microbiome taxonomically in 3 groups each comprising of two samples? Data is not normally distributed. I tried krussel wallis but it doesnt work
Dear Ayesha,
to calculate the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio you first need their relative abundance. You need to calculate the average per group for each phylum respectively and then apply the ratio formula simply using excel. If you perform the statistical analysis on GraphPad, in the ANOVA you can select the "use nonparametric test" option.
The other question you might want to ask yourself is why you would even want to calculate the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio. It is a popular ratio but not very useful imo (a cause of many conflicting results). If we're talking human gut microbiomes here there might perhaps be some value in the Prevotella/Bacteroides ratio, or maybe the Firmicutes/Bacteroides ratio. Bacteroidetes contains both Prevotella and Bacteroides and is hence often a poor choice for using to find any sort of biological relevance.
- Badges
- Science topic