ArticleNature reviews. Microbiology2018
Keystone taxa as drivers of microbiome structure and functioning.
Article in Nature reviews. Microbiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 953 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
953 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Standardized 16S Meta-Analysis Reveals Consistent Host-Associated Patterns in Laminariales Epiphytic Microbiomes.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Pooled it
- Effect ofNutrients · 2026Trial
- Predictive Functional Profiling of Allergy-Associated Microbiota with PICRUSt2.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2027Article
- Latent tuberculosis infection shapes gut microbiome and immune-metabolic interactions in people living with HIV.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Vitamin B6 produced by gut microbiome regulates host behavioral phenotypes through dopaminergic metabolism.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Biases in high throughput sequencing methods affect microbial molecular ecology networks and keystone taxa identification in theCurrent research in microbial sciences · 2026Article
- Evolution of lake microbial structure and function under climatic and anthropogenic forcings: Insights from sedimentary ancient DNA.iScience · 2026Article
- Image cytometry and kinetic modelling reveal amendment-associated differences in microbial cell state and apparent PAH degradation potential.Archives of microbiology · 2026Article
- Thiamine cross-feeding drives microbial coexistence in the leaf microbiome.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Deep-sea Microbial Dataset of the Antarctic Ocean (dsMDAO): A high-resolution deep-sea microbial dataset of the Antarctic Ocean reveals potential for taxonomic and functional diversity.Microbial genomics · 2026Article
- Comparative multi-omics analysis of microbial succession, metabolite profiles, and antioxidant properties in fermented black and yellow highland barley.Food chemistry: X · 2026Article
- Core and Keystone Epiphytic and Endophytic Bacteria Associated With Potato Leaves Are Driven by Cultivar and Site.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Stable Bacterial Cores and Patchy Eukaryotic Communities Shape the Summer Microbiomes of Patagonian Fjord Ecosystems Across Spatial, Functional and Temporal Gradients.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- Feeder- and Drinker-Associated Microbiota Differ from Host-Associated Fecal Microbiota During a Commercial Broiler Production Cycle with Age-Associated Changes in Taxonomic Composition.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Unlocking the power ofmSystems · 2026Article
- Clinical Subtype Stratification Reveals Gut Microbial Alterations, Candidate Markers, and Co-Occurrence Network Remodeling in Coronary Artery Disease.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Responses of Groundwater Bacterial Communities to Extreme Rainfall in the Western North China Plain Based on 16S rRNA Sequencing.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Study on the Differentiation of Microbial Communities Under Different Soil Types in the Typical Black Soil Area of Songnen Plain.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Divergent Association Pathways of Soil Organic Carbon Variation Under Grazing Exclusion Across Three Grassland Sites: Relationships with Microbial Network Structure and Community Assembly.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Ecological Engineering of the Human Gut Microbiome: A Narrative Review and Framework for Next-Generation Therapeutics.Microorganisms · 2026Review
893 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microorganisms have a pivotal role in the functioning of ecosystems. Recent studies have shown that microbial communities harbour keystone taxa, which drive community composition and function irrespective of their abundance. In this Opinion article, we propose a definition of keystone taxa in microbial ecology and summarize over 200 microbial keystone taxa that have been identified in soil, plant and marine ecosystems, as well as in the human microbiome. We explore the importance of keystone taxa and keystone guilds for microbiome structure and functioning and discuss the factors that determine their distribution and activities.
Indexed as
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29789680What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.