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William A. Walters

Other affiliations: University of Colorado Boulder
Bio: William A. Walters is an academic researcher from Max Planck Society. The author has contributed to research in topics: Microbiome & Dysbiosis. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 14 publications receiving 5669 citations. Previous affiliations of William A. Walters include University of Colorado Boulder.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
Evan Bolyen1, Jai Ram Rideout1, Matthew R. Dillon1, Nicholas A. Bokulich1, Christian C. Abnet2, Gabriel A. Al-Ghalith3, Harriet Alexander4, Harriet Alexander5, Eric J. Alm6, Manimozhiyan Arumugam7, Francesco Asnicar8, Yang Bai9, Jordan E. Bisanz10, Kyle Bittinger11, Asker Daniel Brejnrod7, Colin J. Brislawn12, C. Titus Brown5, Benjamin J. Callahan13, Andrés Mauricio Caraballo-Rodríguez14, John Chase1, Emily K. Cope1, Ricardo Silva14, Christian Diener15, Pieter C. Dorrestein14, Gavin M. Douglas16, Daniel M. Durall17, Claire Duvallet6, Christian F. Edwardson, Madeleine Ernst14, Madeleine Ernst18, Mehrbod Estaki17, Jennifer Fouquier19, Julia M. Gauglitz14, Sean M. Gibbons15, Sean M. Gibbons20, Deanna L. Gibson17, Antonio Gonzalez14, Kestrel Gorlick1, Jiarong Guo21, Benjamin Hillmann3, Susan Holmes22, Hannes Holste14, Curtis Huttenhower23, Curtis Huttenhower24, Gavin A. Huttley25, Stefan Janssen26, Alan K. Jarmusch14, Lingjing Jiang14, Benjamin D. Kaehler25, Benjamin D. Kaehler27, Kyo Bin Kang14, Kyo Bin Kang28, Christopher R. Keefe1, Paul Keim1, Scott T. Kelley29, Dan Knights3, Irina Koester14, Tomasz Kosciolek14, Jorden Kreps1, Morgan G. I. Langille16, Joslynn S. Lee30, Ruth E. Ley31, Ruth E. Ley32, Yong-Xin Liu, Erikka Loftfield2, Catherine A. Lozupone19, Massoud Maher14, Clarisse Marotz14, Bryan D Martin20, Daniel McDonald14, Lauren J. McIver24, Lauren J. McIver23, Alexey V. Melnik14, Jessica L. Metcalf33, Sydney C. Morgan17, Jamie Morton14, Ahmad Turan Naimey1, Jose A. Navas-Molina34, Jose A. Navas-Molina14, Louis-Félix Nothias14, Stephanie B. Orchanian, Talima Pearson1, Samuel L. Peoples20, Samuel L. Peoples35, Daniel Petras14, Mary L. Preuss36, Elmar Pruesse19, Lasse Buur Rasmussen7, Adam R. Rivers37, Michael S. Robeson38, Patrick Rosenthal36, Nicola Segata8, Michael Shaffer19, Arron Shiffer1, Rashmi Sinha2, Se Jin Song14, John R. Spear39, Austin D. Swafford, Luke R. Thompson40, Luke R. Thompson41, Pedro J. Torres29, Pauline Trinh20, Anupriya Tripathi14, Peter J. Turnbaugh10, Sabah Ul-Hasan42, Justin J. J. van der Hooft43, Fernando Vargas, Yoshiki Vázquez-Baeza14, Emily Vogtmann2, Max von Hippel44, William A. Walters32, Yunhu Wan2, Mingxun Wang14, Jonathan Warren45, Kyle C. Weber37, Kyle C. Weber46, Charles H. D. Williamson1, Amy D. Willis20, Zhenjiang Zech Xu14, Jesse R. Zaneveld20, Yilong Zhang47, Qiyun Zhu14, Rob Knight14, J. Gregory Caporaso1 
TL;DR: QIIME 2 development was primarily funded by NSF Awards 1565100 to J.G.C. and R.K.P. and partial support was also provided by the following: grants NIH U54CA143925 and U54MD012388.
Abstract: QIIME 2 development was primarily funded by NSF Awards 1565100 to J.G.C. and 1565057 to R.K. Partial support was also provided by the following: grants NIH U54CA143925 (J.G.C. and T.P.) and U54MD012388 (J.G.C. and T.P.); grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (J.G.C. and R.K.); ERCSTG project MetaPG (N.S.); the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences QYZDB-SSW-SMC021 (Y.B.); the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council APP1085372 (G.A.H., J.G.C., Von Bing Yap and R.K.); the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to D.L.G.; and the State of Arizona Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF), administered by the Arizona Board of Regents, through Northern Arizona University. All NCI coauthors were supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute. S.M.G. and C. Diener were supported by the Washington Research Foundation Distinguished Investigator Award.

8,821 citations

Posted ContentDOI
Evan Bolyen1, Jai Ram Rideout1, Matthew R. Dillon1, Nicholas A. Bokulich1, Christian C. Abnet, Gabriel A. Al-Ghalith2, Harriet Alexander3, Harriet Alexander4, Eric J. Alm5, Manimozhiyan Arumugam6, Francesco Asnicar7, Yang Bai8, Jordan E. Bisanz9, Kyle Bittinger10, Asker Daniel Brejnrod6, Colin J. Brislawn11, C. Titus Brown3, Benjamin J. Callahan12, Andrés Mauricio Caraballo-Rodríguez13, John Chase1, Emily K. Cope1, Ricardo Silva13, Pieter C. Dorrestein13, Gavin M. Douglas14, Daniel M. Durall15, Claire Duvallet5, Christian F. Edwardson16, Madeleine Ernst13, Mehrbod Estaki15, Jennifer Fouquier17, Julia M. Gauglitz13, Deanna L. Gibson15, Antonio Gonzalez18, Kestrel Gorlick1, Jiarong Guo19, Benjamin Hillmann2, Susan Holmes20, Hannes Holste18, Curtis Huttenhower21, Curtis Huttenhower22, Gavin A. Huttley23, Stefan Janssen24, Alan K. Jarmusch13, Lingjing Jiang18, Benjamin D. Kaehler23, Kyo Bin Kang25, Kyo Bin Kang13, Christopher R. Keefe1, Paul Keim1, Scott T. Kelley26, Dan Knights2, Irina Koester13, Irina Koester18, Tomasz Kosciolek18, Jorden Kreps1, Morgan G. I. Langille14, Joslynn S. Lee27, Ruth E. Ley28, Ruth E. Ley29, Yong-Xin Liu8, Erikka Loftfield, Catherine A. Lozupone17, Massoud Maher18, Clarisse Marotz18, Bryan D Martin30, Daniel McDonald18, Lauren J. McIver22, Lauren J. McIver21, Alexey V. Melnik13, Jessica L. Metcalf31, Sydney C. Morgan15, Jamie Morton18, Ahmad Turan Naimey1, Jose A. Navas-Molina32, Jose A. Navas-Molina18, Louis-Félix Nothias13, Stephanie B. Orchanian18, Talima Pearson1, Samuel L. Peoples30, Samuel L. Peoples33, Daniel Petras13, Mary L. Preuss34, Elmar Pruesse17, Lasse Buur Rasmussen6, Adam R. Rivers35, Ii Michael S Robeson36, Patrick Rosenthal34, Nicola Segata7, Michael Shaffer17, Arron Shiffer1, Rashmi Sinha, Se Jin Song18, John R. Spear37, Austin D. Swafford18, Luke R. Thompson38, Luke R. Thompson39, Pedro J. Torres26, Pauline Trinh30, Anupriya Tripathi18, Anupriya Tripathi13, Peter J. Turnbaugh9, Sabah Ul-Hasan40, Justin J. J. van der Hooft41, Fernando Vargas18, Yoshiki Vázquez-Baeza18, Emily Vogtmann, Max von Hippel42, William A. Walters28, Yunhu Wan, Mingxun Wang13, Jonathan Warren43, Kyle C. Weber44, Kyle C. Weber35, Chase Hd Williamson1, Amy D. Willis30, Zhenjiang Zech Xu18, Jesse R. Zaneveld30, Yilong Zhang45, Rob Knight18, J. Gregory Caporaso1 
24 Oct 2018-PeerJ
TL;DR: QIIME 2 provides new features that will drive the next generation of microbiome research, including interactive spatial and temporal analysis and visualization tools, support for metabolomics and shotgun metagenomics analysis, and automated data provenance tracking to ensure reproducible, transparent microbiome data science.
Abstract: We present QIIME 2, an open-source microbiome data science platform accessible to users spanning the microbiome research ecosystem, from scientists and engineers to clinicians and policy makers. QIIME 2 provides new features that will drive the next generation of microbiome research. These include interactive spatial and temporal analysis and visualization tools, support for metabolomics and shotgun metagenomics analysis, and automated data provenance tracking to ensure reproducible, transparent microbiome data science.

875 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There was some correlation between observed dramatic fluctuations in the gut microbiome and intensified medication due to a flare of the disease, and these results will help guide therapies that will redirect the Gut microbiome towards a healthy state and maintain remission in IBD.
Abstract: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by flares of inflammation with a periodic need for increased medication and sometimes even surgery. The aetiology of IBD is partly attributed to a deregulated immune response to gut microbiome dysbiosis. Cross-sectional studies have revealed microbial signatures for different IBD subtypes, including ulcerative colitis, colonic Crohn's disease and ileal Crohn's disease. Although IBD is dynamic, microbiome studies have primarily focused on single time points or a few individuals. Here, we dissect the long-term dynamic behaviour of the gut microbiome in IBD and differentiate this from normal variation. Microbiomes of IBD subjects fluctuate more than those of healthy individuals, based on deviation from a newly defined healthy plane (HP). Ileal Crohn's disease subjects deviated most from the HP, especially subjects with surgical resection. Intriguingly, the microbiomes of some IBD subjects periodically visited the HP then deviated away from it. Inflammation was not directly correlated with distance to the healthy plane, but there was some correlation between observed dramatic fluctuations in the gut microbiome and intensified medication due to a flare of the disease. These results will help guide therapies that will redirect the gut microbiome towards a healthy state and maintain remission in IBD.

750 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Soil protistan communities were highly diverse, approaching the extreme diversity of their bacterial counterparts across the same sites, and like bacterial taxa, protistan taxa were not globally distributed, and the composition of these communities diverged considerably across large geographic distances.
Abstract: Protists are ubiquitous members of soil microbial communities, but the structure of these communities, and the factors that influence their diversity, are poorly understood. We used barcoded pyrosequencing to survey comprehensively the diversity of soil protists from 40 sites across a broad geographic range that represent a variety of biome types, from tropical forests to deserts. In addition to taxa known to be dominant in soil, including Cercozoa and Ciliophora, we found high relative abundances of groups such as Apicomplexa and Dinophyceae that have not previously been recognized as being important components of soil microbial communities. Soil protistan communities were highly diverse, approaching the extreme diversity of their bacterial counterparts across the same sites. Like bacterial taxa, protistan taxa were not globally distributed, and the composition of these communities diverged considerably across large geographic distances. However, soil protistan and bacterial communities exhibit very different global-scale biogeographical patterns, with protistan communities strongly structured by climatic conditions that regulate annual soil moisture availability.

367 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Plant genetic effects were significant amid the large effects of plant age on the rhizosphere microbiome, regardless of the specific community of each field, and despite microbiome responses to climate events.
Abstract: Soil microbes that colonize plant roots and are responsive to differences in plant genotype remain to be ascertained for agronomically important crops. From a very large-scale longitudinal field study of 27 maize inbred lines planted in three fields, with partial replication 5 y later, we identify root-associated microbiota exhibiting reproducible associations with plant genotype. Analysis of 4,866 samples identified 143 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) whose variation in relative abundances across the samples was significantly regulated by plant genotype, and included five of seven core OTUs present in all samples. Plant genetic effects were significant amid the large effects of plant age on the rhizosphere microbiome, regardless of the specific community of each field, and despite microbiome responses to climate events. Seasonal patterns showed that the plant root microbiome is locally seeded, changes with plant growth, and responds to weather events. However, against this background of variation, specific taxa responded to differences in host genotype. If shown to have beneficial functions, microbes may be considered candidate traits for selective breeding.

365 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Some notable features of IQ-TREE version 2 are described and the key advantages over other software are highlighted.
Abstract: IQ-TREE (http://www.iqtree.org, last accessed February 6, 2020) is a user-friendly and widely used software package for phylogenetic inference using maximum likelihood. Since the release of version 1 in 2014, we have continuously expanded IQ-TREE to integrate a plethora of new models of sequence evolution and efficient computational approaches of phylogenetic inference to deal with genomic data. Here, we describe notable features of IQ-TREE version 2 and highlight the key advantages over other software.

4,337 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
28 Nov 2014-Science
TL;DR: Diversity of most fungal groups peaked in tropical ecosystems, but ectomycorrhizal fungi and several fungal classes were most diverse in temperate or boreal ecosystems, and manyfungal groups exhibited distinct preferences for specific edaphic conditions (such as pH, calcium, or phosphorus).
Abstract: Fungi play major roles in ecosystem processes, but the determinants of fungal diversity and biogeographic patterns remain poorly understood. Using DNA metabarcoding data from hundreds of globally distributed soil samples, we demonstrate that fungal richness is decoupled from plant diversity. The plant-to-fungus richness ratio declines exponentially toward the poles. Climatic factors, followed by edaphic and spatial variables, constitute the best predictors of fungal richness and community composition at the global scale. Fungi show similar latitudinal diversity gradients to other organisms, with several notable exceptions. These findings advance our understanding of global fungal diversity patterns and permit integration of fungi into a general macroecological framework.

2,346 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Fungi typically live in highly diverse communities composed of multiple ecological guilds, and FUNGuild is a tool that can be used to taxonomically parse fungal OTUs by ecological guild independent of sequencing platform or analysis pipeline.

2,290 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
27 Nov 2014-Nature
TL;DR: Recent progress in understanding belowground biodiversity and its role in determining the ecological and evolutionary responses of terrestrial ecosystems to current and future environmental change are reviewed.
Abstract: Evidence is mounting that the immense diversity of microorganisms and animals that live belowground contributes significantly to shaping aboveground biodiversity and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Our understanding of how this belowground biodiversity is distributed, and how it regulates the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, is rapidly growing. Evidence also points to soil biodiversity as having a key role in determining the ecological and evolutionary responses of terrestrial ecosystems to current and future environmental change. Here we review recent progress and propose avenues for further research in this field.

2,074 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
29 May 2019-Nature
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that periods of disease activity were also marked by increases in temporal variability, with characteristic taxonomic, functional, and biochemical shifts, and integrative analysis identified microbial, biochemical, and host factors central to this dysregulation.
Abstract: Inflammatory bowel diseases, which include Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, affect several million individuals worldwide. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are complex diseases that are heterogeneous at the clinical, immunological, molecular, genetic, and microbial levels. Individual contributing factors have been the focus of extensive research. As part of the Integrative Human Microbiome Project (HMP2 or iHMP), we followed 132 subjects for one year each to generate integrated longitudinal molecular profiles of host and microbial activity during disease (up to 24 time points each; in total 2,965 stool, biopsy, and blood specimens). Here we present the results, which provide a comprehensive view of functional dysbiosis in the gut microbiome during inflammatory bowel disease activity. We demonstrate a characteristic increase in facultative anaerobes at the expense of obligate anaerobes, as well as molecular disruptions in microbial transcription (for example, among clostridia), metabolite pools (acylcarnitines, bile acids, and short-chain fatty acids), and levels of antibodies in host serum. Periods of disease activity were also marked by increases in temporal variability, with characteristic taxonomic, functional, and biochemical shifts. Finally, integrative analysis identified microbial, biochemical, and host factors central to this dysregulation. The study's infrastructure resources, results, and data, which are available through the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Multi'omics Database ( http://ibdmdb.org ), provide the most comprehensive description to date of host and microbial activities in inflammatory bowel diseases.

1,385 citations