PRBB Computational Genomics Seminars Mireia Valles-Colomer

09/04/202612:00R_473.10_AULAPRBB Computational Genomics SeminarsMireia Valles-ColomerMireia Valles Group. Microbiome Research Group. UPF"How do we acquire and transmit the strains in our microbiomes?"Abstract:The human microbiome is a dynamic and highly individualized ecosystem, shaped by continuous microbial exchange throughout life. This exchange operates at the level of microbial strains, whose acquisition, persistence, and spread remain only partially understood. I will discuss how we acquire and transmit strains within and across microbiomes, with a focus on recent computational advances enabling high-resolution profiling from metagenomic data.
The talk will present computational frameworks for strain-level reconstruction and comparison, allowing the detection of shared strains, inference of transmission events, and quantification of microbial flow between hosts. By leveraging the genetic uniqueness of strains, these approaches provide unprecedented resolution to disentangle complex transmission routes, including those involving environmental, dietary, and potentially animal-associated sources. We will explore both vertical transmission, particularly during early life, where maternal seeding at birth and during infancy establishes foundational components of the microbiome, and horizontal transmission, which occurs through close social interactions, cohabitation, and contact with family members and broader communities. Finally, we will discuss microbiome transmission within a broader One Health perspective, recognizing that human microbiomes are influenced by interactions with animals, food systems, and the environment. Understanding these multilayered transmission dynamics has important implications for microbiome-associated disease research, host-microbe interactions, and the development of targeted microbiome-based interventions.