Bayes factor test for taxon presence/absence

We’ve updated PhyloSift to include a new mode: test_lineage.  This allows users to conduct a Bayes factor test, a statistical method to test for the presence/absence of a specific taxon amongst the input data (e.g. whether a species might be present in an environmental metagenome). Because the summary files report probability masses for sequences over a reference guide tree topology, not every reported taxon represents a true biological signal (for example, branches where placed sequences have very low probability scores). In conjunction with guppy tree visualizations, the Bayes factor test will help users determine if a specific taxon of interest is likely to be present in their metagenome sample.

Further details on Bayes factor tests can be found on our new tutorial page, and our guide to running PhyloSift on the command line.

 

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