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Generate Beta Diversity Change Boxplot for Paired Samples

Source: R/generate_beta_change_boxplot_pair.R
generate_beta_change_boxplot_pair.Rd

Creates boxplots visualizing within-subject beta diversity changes between two time points. Compares distributions across groups and strata.

Usage

generate_beta_change_boxplot_pair(
  data.obj = NULL,
  dist.obj = NULL,
  subject.var,
  time.var,
  group.var = NULL,
  strata.var = NULL,
  adj.vars = NULL,
  change.base,
  dist.name = c("BC", "Jaccard"),
  base.size = 16,
  theme.choice = "bw",
  custom.theme = NULL,
  palette = NULL,
  pdf = TRUE,
  file.ann = NULL,
  pdf.wid = 11,
  pdf.hei = 8.5,
  ...
)

Arguments

data.obj

A MicrobiomeStat data object, which is a list containing at minimum the following components:

  • feature.tab: A matrix of feature abundances (taxa/genes as rows, samples as columns)

  • meta.dat: A data frame of sample metadata (samples as rows)

Optional components include:

  • feature.ann: A matrix/data frame of feature annotations (e.g., taxonomy)

  • tree: A phylogenetic tree object (class "phylo")

  • feature.agg.list: Pre-aggregated feature tables by taxonomy

Data objects can be created using converters like mStat_convert_phyloseq_to_data_obj or importers like mStat_import_qiime2_as_data_obj.

dist.obj

A list of pre-calculated distance matrices. If NULL and distances are needed, they will be calculated automatically. List names should match dist.name (e.g., "BC" for Bray-Curtis). See mStat_calculate_beta_diversity.

subject.var

Character string specifying the column name in meta.dat that uniquely identifies each subject or sample unit. Required for longitudinal and paired designs to track repeated measurements.

time.var

Character string specifying the column name in meta.dat containing the time variable. Required for longitudinal and paired analyses. Supports character/factor labels (e.g., "baseline", "week4") and numeric values. Some trend/volatility methods require numeric or coercible-to-numeric time values.

group.var

Character string specifying the column name in meta.dat containing the grouping variable (e.g., treatment, condition, phenotype). Used for between-group comparisons.

strata.var

Character string specifying the column name in meta.dat for stratification. When provided, analyses and visualizations will be performed separately within each stratum (e.g., by site, batch, or sex).

adj.vars

Character vector specifying column names in meta.dat to be used as covariates for adjustment in statistical models. These variables will be included as fixed effects.

change.base

Character or numeric specifying the baseline time point for computing beta diversity change.

dist.name

Character vector specifying which distance metrics to use. Options depend on available methods:

  • "BC": Bray-Curtis dissimilarity

  • "Jaccard": Jaccard distance

  • "UniFrac": Unweighted UniFrac (requires tree)

  • "GUniFrac": Generalized UniFrac (requires tree)

  • "WUniFrac": Weighted UniFrac (requires tree)

  • "JS": Jensen-Shannon divergence

base.size

Numeric value specifying the base font size for plot text elements. Default is typically 16.

theme.choice

Character string specifying the ggplot2 theme to use. Options include:

  • "bw": Black and white theme (theme_bw)

  • "classic": Classic theme (theme_classic)

  • "gray": Gray theme (theme_gray)

  • "light": Light theme (theme_light)

  • "dark": Dark theme (theme_dark)

  • "minimal": Minimal theme (theme_minimal)

  • "void": Void theme (theme_void)

  • "prism": GraphPad Prism-like theme

Can also use a custom ggplot2 theme object via custom.theme.

custom.theme

A custom ggplot2 theme object to override theme.choice. Should be created using ggplot2::theme() or a complete theme function.

palette

Character vector of colors or a named palette for the plot. If NULL, uses default MicrobiomeStat color scheme. Can be:

  • A vector of color codes (e.g., c("#E41A1C", "#377EB8"))

  • A palette name recognized by the plotting function

pdf

Logical. If TRUE, saves the plot(s) to PDF file(s) in the current working directory. Default is TRUE.

file.ann

Character string for additional annotation to append to output filenames. Useful for distinguishing multiple outputs.

pdf.wid

Numeric value specifying the width of PDF output in inches. Default is typically 11.

pdf.hei

Numeric value specifying the height of PDF output in inches. Default is typically 8.5.

...

Additional parameters passed on to ggsave()

Value

A named list of ggplot objects visualizing beta diversity change. The list contains one plot for each distance metric specified in dist.name. Each plot shows boxplots of the beta diversity changes, with samples faceted by the group_var and strata_var variables if provided.

See also

mStat_calculate_beta_diversity for creating the distance object.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Load required libraries and example data
library(vegan)
data(peerj32.obj)
dist.obj <- mStat_calculate_beta_diversity(peerj32.obj, dist.name = "BC")
generate_beta_change_boxplot_pair(
  data.obj = peerj32.obj,
  dist.obj = NULL,
  subject.var = "subject",
  time.var = "time",
  group.var = "group",
  strata.var = "sex",
  adj.vars = "sex",
  change.base = "1",
  dist.name = c('BC'),
  base.size = 20,
  theme.choice = "bw",
  custom.theme = NULL,
  palette = "lancet",
  pdf = TRUE,
  file.ann = NULL,
  pdf.wid = 11,
  pdf.hei = 8.5
)

data("subset_pairs.obj")
generate_beta_change_boxplot_pair(
  data.obj = subset_pairs.obj,
  dist.obj = NULL,
  subject.var = "MouseID",
  time.var = "Antibiotic",
  group.var = "Sex",
  change.base = "Baseline",
  dist.name = c('BC'),
  base.size = 20,
  theme.choice = "bw",
  custom.theme = NULL,
  palette = "lancet",
  pdf = TRUE,
  file.ann = NULL,
  pdf.wid = 11,
  pdf.hei = 8.5
)
} # }