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Published online: 5 March 2008 | doi:10.1038/nchina.2008.47

Gut microbiota: Scanning the belly

Wei Zeng

Introduction

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Humans have intimate symbiotic relationships with a diverse range of gut microbes (a microbiome) residing in their intestines. Variations in the microbiome composition can influence an individual's health and metabolism. There are many factors that shape the microbiome, such as genetics, drugs and the environment. The microbiome then influences the metabolism through interactive pathways — 'metabolic connectivities'. An international research team¹ covering several disciplines has taken a 'transgenomic' approach to map the gut microbiome.

The researchers collected faecal and urinary samples from seven Chinese individuals from the same family and applied statistical tools to analyse and model their microbial–host metabolic connectivities. Although these individuals were genetically related, and had been raised in the same environment, the microbiome of each individual was unique. At the species level, the Chinese family gut microbiomes were found to be structurally different from those of Americans, as reported previously. The finding shows that microbiome variation is an important factor that should be taken into account in drug design.

By using functional metagenomics — the characterization of key functional members of the microbiome that have the most influence on an individual's metabolism, and hence health — the researchers have identified several key microbes and their interactive pathways. For example, the microbe Faecalibacterium prausnitzii was associated with the modulation of eight urinary metabolites. It was found to be highly active and has an influence on numerous pathways.

The approach can be used to examine systemic effects of different drugs and diets.

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The authors of this work are from:
Key Laboratory of Systems Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China; Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory for Disease and Health Genomics, Chinese National Human Genome Center, Shanghai, China; Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, South Kensington, UK.

Reference

1. Li, M. et al. Symbiotic gut microbes modulate human metabolic phenotypes. PNAS 105, 2117–2122 (2008). | Article | PubMed | ChemPort |