Moving pictures of the human microbiome
- PMID: 21624126
- PMCID: PMC3271711
- DOI: 10.1186/gb-2011-12-5-r50
Moving pictures of the human microbiome
Abstract
Background: Understanding the normal temporal variation in the human microbiome is critical to developing treatments for putative microbiome-related afflictions such as obesity, Crohn’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease and malnutrition. Sequencing and computational technologies, however, have been a limiting factor in performing dense time series analysis of the human microbiome. Here, we present the largest human microbiota time series analysis to date, covering two individuals at four body sites over 396 timepoints.
Results: We find that despite stable differences between body sites and individuals, there is pronounced variability in an individual’s microbiota across months, weeks and even days. Additionally, only a small fraction of the total taxa found within a single body site appear to be present across all time points, suggesting that no core temporal microbiome exists at high abundance (although some microbes may be present but drop below the detection threshold). Many more taxa appear to be persistent but non-permanent community members.
Conclusions: DNA sequencing and computational advances described here provide the ability to go beyond infrequent snapshots of our human-associated microbial ecology to high-resolution assessments of temporal variations over protracted periods, within and between body habitats and individuals. This capacity will allow us to define normal variation and pathologic states, and assess responses to therapeutic interventions.
Figures
![Figure 1](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/3271711/bin/gb-2011-12-5-r50-1.gif)
![Figure 2](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/3271711/bin/gb-2011-12-5-r50-2.gif)
![Figure 3](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/3271711/bin/gb-2011-12-5-r50-3.gif)
Similar articles
-
Metagenome-wide association studies: fine-mining the microbiome.Nat Rev Microbiol. 2016 Aug;14(8):508-22. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro.2016.83. Epub 2016 Jul 11. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2016. PMID: 27396567 Review.
-
Defining the human microbiome.Nutr Rev. 2012 Aug;70 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S38-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2012.00493.x. Nutr Rev. 2012. PMID: 22861806 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Current state of knowledge: the canine gastrointestinal microbiome.Anim Health Res Rev. 2012 Jun;13(1):78-88. doi: 10.1017/S1466252312000059. Epub 2012 May 30. Anim Health Res Rev. 2012. PMID: 22647637 Review.
-
The human microbiome: at the interface of health and disease.Nat Rev Genet. 2012 Mar 13;13(4):260-70. doi: 10.1038/nrg3182. Nat Rev Genet. 2012. PMID: 22411464 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Human distal gut microbiome.Environ Microbiol. 2011 Dec;13(12):3088-102. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2011.02574.x. Epub 2011 Sep 12. Environ Microbiol. 2011. PMID: 21906225 Review.
Cited by
-
Imprints of ecological processes in the taxonomic core community: an analysis of naturally replicated microbial communities enclosed in oil.FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2024 May 14;100(6):fiae074. doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiae074. FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2024. PMID: 38734895 Free PMC article.
-
Non-significant influence between aerobic and anaerobic sample transport materials on gut (fecal) microbiota in healthy and fat-metabolic disorder Thai adults.PeerJ. 2024 Apr 19;12:e17270. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17270. eCollection 2024. PeerJ. 2024. PMID: 38650647 Free PMC article.
-
Effects of diets supplemented with bioactive peptides on nutrient digestibility, immune cell responsiveness, and fecal characteristics, microbiota, and metabolites of adult cats.J Anim Sci. 2024 Jan 3;102:skae104. doi: 10.1093/jas/skae104. J Anim Sci. 2024. PMID: 38587063
-
Longitudinal profiling of the microbiome at four body sites reveals core stability and individualized dynamics during health and disease.Cell Host Microbe. 2024 Apr 10;32(4):506-526.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2024.02.012. Epub 2024 Mar 12. Cell Host Microbe. 2024. PMID: 38479397
-
Effects of a novel dental chew on oral health outcomes, halitosis, and microbiota of adult dogs.J Anim Sci. 2024 Jan 3;102:skae071. doi: 10.1093/jas/skae071. J Anim Sci. 2024. PMID: 38477668
References
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources