To gain further understanding of the relationship between
phage and host distribution in gut microbial communities, we
next examined the abundance profiles of phages and their inferred
bacterial hosts across the MetaHIT fecal samples from 124 individuals
(Methods) (Fig. 3D). For most phages (66%), the distribution
showed lower levels of phage as compared with its bacterial
host across the majority of samples where the phage existed, with
occasions of relative phage dominance in specific individuals,
defined here as when phage abundance significantly exceeds that
of its bacterial host (Fig. 3D). Such phage dominance over its host
suggests that in those individuals the phage might be bursting at or
near the time of sampling. However, the lack of time-point data in
our study does not allow verification of this hypothesis.