Current Insights on the Modulation of Gut Microbiome and Its Effect on Human Health

AbstractTo demonstrate the causative role of gut microbiome in human health and diseases, we first need to identify, via next-generation sequencing, potentially important functional members associated with specific health outcomes and disease phenotypes. However, due to the strain-level genetic complexity of the gut microbiota, microbiome datasets are highly dimensional and highly sparse in nature, making it challenging to identify putative causative agents of a particular disease phenotype. Members of an ecosystem seldomly live independently from each other. Instead, they develop local interactions and form inter-member organizations to influence the ecosystem’s higher-level patterns and functions. In the ecological study of macro-organisms, members are defined as belonging to the same “guild” if they exploit the same class of resources in a similar way or work together as a coherent functional group. Translating the concept of “guild” to the study of gut microbiota, we redefine guild as a group of bacteria that show consistent co-abundant behavior and likely to work together to contribute to the same ecological function. In this opinion article, we discuss how to use guilds as the aggregation unit to reduce dimensionality and sparsity in microbiome-wide association studies for identifying candidate gut bacteria that may causatively contribute to human health and diseases.

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Synthesis of the pentasaccharide repeating unit from Ruminococcus gnavus and measurement of its inflammatory properties

RSC Advances ◽

10.1039/d1ra01918j ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (24) ◽

pp. 14357-14361

Author(s):

Teron Haynie ◽

Shawn Gubler ◽

Christoph Drees ◽

Tanner Heaton ◽

Tanner Mitton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Gut Microbiome

The roles played by the gut microbiome in human health are increasingly recognized, and the prevalence of specific microorganisms has been correlated with different diseases.

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Gut microbiome response to a modern Paleolithic diet in a Western lifestyle context

10.1101/494187 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Monica Barone ◽

Silvia Turroni ◽

Simone Rampelli ◽

Matteo Soverini ◽

Federica D’Amico ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Gut Microbiome ◽

Dietary Pattern ◽

Evolutionary History ◽

Rural Populations ◽

Processed Foods ◽

Paleolithic Diet ◽

Progressive Reduction ◽

High Consumption ◽

High Degree

AbstractThe progressive reduction of gut microbiome (GM) biodiversity along human evolutionary history has been found to be particularly exacerbated in Western urban compared to traditional rural populations, and supposed to contribute to the increasing incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases. Together with sanitation, antibiotics and C-section, the Western diets, low in microbiota-accessible carbohydrates (MACs) while rich in industrialized and processed foods, are considered one of the leading causes of this shrinkage. However, significant questions remain unanswered, especially whether high-MAC low-processed diets may be sufficient to recover GM diversity in Western urban populations. Here, we profiled the GM structure of urban Italian subjects adhering to the modern Paleolithic diet (MPD), a dietary pattern featured by high consumption of MACs and low-to-zero intake of refined sugars and processed foods, and compared data with other Italian individuals following a Mediterranean Diet (MD), as well as worldwide traditional hunter-gatherer populations from previous publications. Notwithstanding a strong geography effect on the GM structure, our results show an unexpectedly high degree of GM biodiversity in MPD subjects, which well approximates that of traditional populations. Increasing the consumption of MACs at the expense of refined sugars, and minimizing the intake of processed foods, both hallmarks of the MPD, could be the key to rewild the Western microbiota, counteracting the loss of GM diversity and thus restoring evolutionarily important functionality to our gut for improved human health.

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Human Fecal Metabolome Reflects Differences in Body Mass Index, Physical Fitness, and Blood Lipoproteins in Healthy Older Adults

Metabolites ◽

10.3390/metabo11110717 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 717

Author(s):

Mengni Cui ◽

Alessia Trimigno ◽

Josue L. Castro-Mejía ◽

Søren Reitelseder ◽

Jacob Bülow ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Body Mass Index ◽

Physical Fitness ◽

Glutamic Acid ◽

Human Health ◽

Body Mass ◽

Gut Microbiome ◽

Density Lipoprotein ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Lipoprotein Particles

This study investigated how body mass index (BMI), physical fitness, and blood plasma lipoprotein levels are related to the fecal metabolome in older adults. The fecal metabolome data were acquired using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry on 163 healthy older adults (65–80 years old, 80 females and 83 males). Overweight and obese subjects (BMI ≥ 27) showed higher levels of fecal amino acids (AAs) (valine, alanine, and phenylalanine) compared to normal-weight subjects (BMI ≤ 23.5). Adults classified in the high-fitness group displayed slightly lower concentrations of fecal short-chain fatty acids, propionic acid, and AAs (methionine, leucine, glutamic acid, and threonine) compared to the low-fitness group. Subjects with lower levels of cholesterol in low-density lipoprotein particles (LDLchol, ≤2.6 mmol/L) displayed higher fecal levels of valine, glutamic acid, phenylalanine, and lactic acid, while subjects with a higher level of cholesterol in high-density lipoprotein particles (HDLchol, ≥2.1 mmol/L) showed lower fecal concentration of isovaleric acid. The results from this study suggest that the human fecal metabolome, which primarily represents undigested food waste and metabolites produced by the gut microbiome, carries important information about human health and should be closely integrated to other omics data for a better understanding of the role of the gut microbiome and diet on human health and metabolism.

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Bugs to debug? The exploration of gut microbiome in human health and diseases

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association ◽

10.1016/j.jfma.2019.01.017 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 118 ◽

pp. S1-S2 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yen-Hsuan Ni

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Gut Microbiome

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The Gut Microbiome and Xenobiotics: Identifying Knowledge Gaps

Toxicological Sciences ◽

10.1093/toxsci/kfaa060 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 176 (1) ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vicki L Sutherland ◽

Charlene A McQueen ◽

Donna Mendrick ◽

Donna Gulezian ◽

Carl Cerniglia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Gut Microbiome ◽

Critical Role ◽

Drug Efficacy ◽

Model Systems ◽

Microbial Composition ◽

Breakout Group ◽

Data Gaps ◽

Critical Issues ◽

And Function

Abstract There is an increasing awareness that the gut microbiome plays a critical role in human health and disease, but mechanistic insights are often lacking. In June 2018, the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) held a workshop, “The Gut Microbiome: Markers of Human Health, Drug Efficacy and Xenobiotic Toxicity” (https://hesiglobal.org/event/the-gut-microbiome-workshop) to identify data gaps in determining how gut microbiome alterations may affect human health. Speakers and stakeholders from academia, government, and industry addressed multiple topics including the current science on the gut microbiome, endogenous and exogenous metabolites, biomarkers, and model systems. The workshop presentations and breakout group discussions formed the basis for identifying data gaps and research needs. Two critical issues that emerged were defining the microbial composition and function related to health and developing standards for models, methods and analysis in order to increase the ability to compare and replicate studies. A series of key recommendations were formulated to focus efforts to further understand host-microbiome interactions and the consequences of exposure to xenobiotics as well as identifying biomarkers of microbiome-associated disease and toxicity.

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Impact of whole grains on the gut microbiota: the next frontier for oats?

British Journal Of Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s0007114514002244 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 112 (S2) ◽

pp. S44-S49 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Devin J. Rose

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

Human Health ◽

Gut Microbiome ◽

Resistant Starch ◽

Health Benefits ◽

Whole Grains ◽

Gut Health ◽

Gut Function ◽

Complex Lipids

The gut microbiota plays important roles in proper gut function and can contribute to or help prevent disease. Whole grains, including oats, constitute important sources of nutrients for the gut microbiota and contribute to a healthy gut microbiome. In particular, whole grains provide NSP and resistant starch, unsaturated TAG and complex lipids, and phenolics. The composition of these constituents is unique in oats compared with other whole grains. Therefore, oats may contribute distinctive effects on gut health relative to other grains. Studies designed to determine these effects may uncover new human-health benefits of oat consumption.

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Maintaining the Balance of Intestinal Flora through the Diet: Effective Prevention of Illness

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods10102312 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 2312

Author(s):

Li Zhang ◽

Zhenying Zhang ◽

Lei Xu ◽

Xin Zhang

Keyword(s):

Central Nervous System ◽

Nervous System ◽

Human Health ◽

Gut Microbiome ◽

Intestinal Flora ◽

Dietary Factors ◽

Signal Molecules ◽

Effective Prevention ◽

The Central Nervous System ◽

The Brain

The human body is home to a complex community of dynamic equilibrium microbiota, including bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. It is known that the gut microbiome plays a crucial role in regulating innate and adaptive immune responses, intestinal peristalsis, intestinal barrier homeostasis, nutrient uptake, and fat distribution. The complex relationship between the host and microbiome suggests that when this relationship is out of balance, the microbiome may contribute to disease development. The brain–gut–microbial axis is composed of many signal molecules, gastrointestinal mucosal cells, the vagus nerve, and blood–brain barrier, which plays an essential role in developing many diseases. The microbiome can influence the central nervous system function through the brain–gut axis; the central nervous system can also affect the composition and partial functions of the gut microbiome in the same way. Different dietary patterns, specific dietary components, and functional dietary factors can significantly affect intestinal flora’s structure, composition, and function, thereby affecting human health. Based on the above, this paper reviewed the relationship between diet, intestinal flora, and human health, and the strategies to prevent mental illness through the dietary modification of intestinal microorganisms.

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Gut microbiome and human health

International Journal of Enteric Pathogens ◽

10.15171/ijep.2019.08 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 30-30

Author(s):

Farzaneh Firoozeh

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Gut Microbiome

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