Fig. 1. Visualization of study workflow.
a Study design and approach. First, synthetic microbial communities were designed mimicking three distinct ecological scenarios. Second, metagenomic sequencing of these communities and determination of their microbial loads were simulated. Third, sequencing data were transformed according to a selection of methods being benchmarked. Finally, these methods were evaluated based on their performance in relevant microbiome analyses. b Examples of the three types of ecological scenarios simulated: succession (left panel), blooming (mid panel), and dysbiosis (right panel). Samples are ordered in function of microbial density. The top 10 most abundant taxa as well as the bloomer and opportunist taxon are colored for each population.