This is the type of basic research that is not funded currently
partially because of the focus on lifestyle factors and disease.
Social networking the microbiome
By Rob Stein, Published: October 10
Washington Post
After European researchers reported in April that they had identified
three basic combinations of microbiota, known as =93enterotypes,=94 they
began receiving e-mails from people hoping to find out which one they
had and how that might be affecting their health.
Over the summer, the group launched my.microbes =97 a social network
organized around the microbiome. Volunteers mail in samples for
analysis at a subsidized price of about $2,000. The non-profit project
is aimed at quickly assembling a large database for scientists to
study while offering easy access to cutting-edge research.
=93We thought it would be a nice way to bring a social network aspect to
it,=94 said Mani Arumugam of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
in Heidelberg, Germany. =93One person may see, =91Someone else looks like
me,=92 in terms of their microbiome. The other might say, =91What do they
do? Or, =91I have this condition. I ate this fruit and it helped me.=92
It=92s totally up to them.=94
=97 Rob Stein
The site is here: http://my.microbes.eu/
Welcome to my.microbes
Microbes live in, on and around us all the time, contributing
approximately 2 kilograms to our body masses. Most of them are
essential for our health and live in equilibrium with our bodies. The
vast majority of these microbes live in our guts and breaking this
balance may have various consequences such as obesity or inflammatory
bowel diseases. Knowing which microbes live in us can lead to better,
personalized diets, early diagnosis, and treatment of diseases.
Below is the original study on "enterotypes"
Nature. 2011 May 12;473(7346):174-80. Epub 2011 Apr 20.
Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome.
Arumugam M et al
European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117
Heidelberg, Germany.
Erratum in
Nature. 2011 Jun 30;474(7353):666.
Abstract
Our knowledge of species and functional composition of the human gut
microbiome is rapidly increasing, but it is still based on very few
cohorts and little is known about variation across the world.
By combining 22 newly sequenced faecal metagenomes of individuals from
four countries with previously published data sets, here we identify
three robust clusters (referred to as enterotypes hereafter) that are
not nation or continent specific.
We also confirmed the enterotypes in two published, larger cohorts,
indicating that intestinal microbiota variation is generally
stratified, not continuous. This indicates further the existence of a
limited number of well-balanced host-microbial symbiotic states that
might respond differently to diet and drug intake.
The enterotypes are mostly driven by species composition, but abundant
molecular functions are not necessarily provided by abundant species,
highlighting the importance of a functional analysis to understand
microbial communities.
Although individual host properties such as body mass index, age, or
gender cannot explain the observed enterotypes, data-driven marker
genes or functional modules can be identified for each of these host
properties. For example, twelve genes significantly correlate with age
and three functional modules with the body mass index, hinting at a
diagnostic potential of microbial markers.
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