-
Article
Open AccessStrain tracking in complex microbiomes using synteny analysis reveals per-species modes of evolution
Microbial species diversify into strains through single-nucleotide mutations and structural changes, such as recombination, insertions and deletions. Most strain-comparison methods quantify differences in sing...
-
Article
Open AccessA modified Michaelis-Menten equation estimates growth from birth to 3 years in healthy babies in the USA
Standard pediatric growth curves cannot be used to impute missing height or weight measurements in individual children. The Michaelis–Menten equation, used for characterizing substrate-enzyme saturation curves...
-
Article
Questioning the fetal microbiome illustrates pitfalls of low-biomass microbial studies
Whether the human fetus and the prenatal intrauterine environment (amniotic fluid and placenta) are stably colonized by microbial communities in a healthy pregnancy remains a subject of debate. Here we evaluat...
-
Article
Open AccessCharacterization of inositol lipid metabolism in gut-associated Bacteroidetes
Inositol lipids are ubiquitous in eukaryotes and have finely tuned roles in cellular signalling and membrane homoeostasis. In Bacteria, however, inositol lipid production is relatively rare. Recently, the prom...
-
Article
Open AccessVertebrate host phylogeny influences gut archaeal diversity
Commonly used 16S rRNA gene primers do not detect the full range of archaeal diversity present in the vertebrate gut. As a result, several questions regarding the archaeal component of the gut microbiota remai...
-
Article
Open AccessSphingolipids produced by gut bacteria enter host metabolic pathways impacting ceramide levels
Gut microbes are linked to host metabolism, but specific mechanisms remain to be uncovered. Ceramides, a type of sphingolipid (SL), have been implicated in the development of a range of metabolic disorders fro...
-
Article
Open AccessFlagellin-elicited adaptive immunity suppresses flagellated microbiota and vaccinates against chronic inflammatory diseases
Alterations in gut microbiota composition are associated with metabolic syndrome and chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. One feature of inflammation-associated gut microbiotas is ...
-
Article
Open AccessThe human gut bacteria Christensenellaceae are widespread, heritable, and associated with health
The Christensenellaceae, a recently described family in the phylum Firmicutes, is emerging as an important player in human health. The relative abundance of Christensenellaceae in the human gut is inversely relat...
-
Article
Open AccessExpanding the scope and scale of microbiome research
-
Article
Open AccessHost diet and evolutionary history explain different aspects of gut microbiome diversity among vertebrate clades
Multiple factors modulate microbial community assembly in the vertebrate gut, though studies disagree as to their relative contribution. One cause may be a reliance on captive animals, which can have very diff...
-
Article
Publisher Correction: Enterotypes in the landscape of gut microbial community composition
In the version of this Perspective originally published, the first and last name of co-author Manimozhiyan Arumugam were switched. This has now been corrected in all versions of the Perspective.
-
Article
Enterotypes in the landscape of gut microbial community composition
Population stratification is a useful approach for a better understanding of complex biological problems in human health and wellbeing. The proposal that such stratification applies to the human gut microbiome...
-
Article
Genomic features of bacterial adaptation to plants
Plants intimately associate with diverse bacteria. Plant-associated bacteria have ostensibly evolved genes that enable them to adapt to plant environments. However, the identities of such genes are mostly unkn...
-
Article
Open AccessMicrobiome and metabolic disease: revisiting the bacterial phylum Bacteroidetes
Bacterial species composition in the gut has emerged as an important factor in obesity and its related metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. Out of thousands of bacterial species-level phylotypes inhabit...
-
Article
Open AccessABO antigen and secretor statuses are not associated with gut microbiota composition in 1,500 twins
Host genetics is one of several factors known to shape human gut microbiome composition, however, the physiological processes underlying the heritability are largely unknown. Inter-individual differences in ho...
-
Article
Open AccessHeritable components of the human fecal microbiome are associated with visceral fat
Variation in the human fecal microbiota has previously been associated with body mass index (BMI). Although obesity is a global health burden, the accumulation of abdominal visceral fat is the specific cardio-...
-
Article
Correction: Corrigendum: Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome
Nature 519, 92–96 (2015); doi:10.1038/nature14232 Some clarifications are provided to this Letter; these do not alter any of the central conclusions but, rather, are provided in the interests of transparency a...
-
Article
Open AccessReduced diversity and altered composition of the gut microbiome in individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
Gastrointestinal disturbances are among symptoms commonly reported by individuals diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). However, whether ME/CFS is associated with an alter...
-
Article
Open AccessErratum to: signatures of early frailty in the gut microbiota
-
Article
Prevotella in the gut: choose carefully
Gut microbial communities often contain many Bacteroides or their close relatives, Prevotella, but not both. Prevotella strains are associated with plant-rich diets but are also linked with chronic inflammatory c...
