scholarly journals Building the microbiome in health and disease: niche construction and social conflict in bacteria

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1675) ◽  
pp. 20140298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke McNally ◽  
Sam P. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Microbiome Composition ◽  
Biofilm Production ◽  
Host Health ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Overlapping Classes ◽  
By Products

Microbes collectively shape their environment in remarkable ways via the products of their metabolism. The diverse environmental impacts of macro-organisms have been collated and reviewed under the banner of ‘niche construction’. Here, we identify and review a series of broad and overlapping classes of bacterial niche construction, ranging from biofilm production to detoxification or release of toxins, enzymes, metabolites and viruses, and review their role in shaping microbiome composition, human health and disease. Some bacterial niche-constructing traits can be seen as extended phenotypes, where individuals actively tailor their environment to their benefit (and potentially to the benefit of others, generating social dilemmas). Other modifications can be viewed as non-adaptive by-products from a producer perspective, yet they may lead to remarkable within-host environmental changes. We illustrate how social evolution and niche construction perspectives offer complementary insights into the dynamics and consequences of these traits across distinct timescales. This review highlights that by understanding the coupled bacterial and biochemical dynamics in human health and disease we can better manage host health.

scholarly journals Complementary Methodologies To Investigate Human Gut Microbiota in Host Health, Working towards Integrative Systems Biology

2017 ◽  
Vol 200 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Méndez-García ◽  
Coral Barbas ◽  
Manuel Ferrer ◽  
David Rojo
Keyword(s):  
Human Subjects ◽  
Human Microbiome ◽  
Fecal Microbiota ◽  
Microbiome Composition ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Microbial Product ◽  
Host Health ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Biological State

ABSTRACT In 1680, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek noted compositional differences in his oral and fecal microbiota, pioneering the study of the diversity of the human microbiome. From Leeuwenhoek's time to successful modern attempts at changing the gut microbial landscape to cure disease, there has been an exponential increase in the recognition of our resident microbes as part of ourselves. Thus, the human host and microbiome have evolved in parallel to configure a balanced system in which microbes survive in homeostasis with our innate and acquired immune systems, unless disease occurs. A growing number of studies have demonstrated a correlation between the presence/absence of microbial taxa and some of their functional molecules (i.e., genes, proteins, and metabolites) with health and disease states. Nevertheless, misleading experimental design on human subjects and the cost and lack of standardized animal models pose challenges to answering the question of whether changes in microbiome composition are cause or consequence of a certain biological state. In this review, we evaluate the state of the art of methodologies that enable the study of the gut microbiome, encouraging a change in broadly used analytic strategies by choosing effector molecules (proteins and metabolites) in combination with coding nucleic acids. We further explore microbial and effector microbial product imbalances that relate to disease and health.

scholarly journals First principles of Hamiltonian medicine

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1642) ◽  
pp. 20130366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Crespi ◽  
Kevin Foster ◽  
Francisco Úbeda
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
First Principles ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Optimal Growth ◽  
Evolution Theory ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Core Issues

We introduce the field of Hamiltonian medicine, which centres on the roles of genetic relatedness in human health and disease. Hamiltonian medicine represents the application of basic social-evolution theory, for interactions involving kinship, to core issues in medicine such as pathogens, cancer, optimal growth and mental illness. It encompasses three domains, which involve conflict and cooperation between: (i) microbes or cancer cells, within humans, (ii) genes expressed in humans, (iii) human individuals. A set of six core principles, based on these domains and their interfaces, serves to conceptually organize the field, and contextualize illustrative examples. The primary usefulness of Hamiltonian medicine is that, like Darwinian medicine more generally, it provides novel insights into what data will be productive to collect, to address important clinical and public health problems. Our synthesis of this nascent field is intended predominantly for evolutionary and behavioural biologists who aspire to address questions directly relevant to human health and disease.

scholarly journals Plant-Derived Extracellular Vesicles: Current Findings,Challenges, and Future Applications

Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 411
Author(s):  
Nader Kameli ◽  
Anya Dragojlovic-Kerkache ◽  
Paul Savelkoul ◽  
Frank R. Stassen
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Extracellular Vesicles ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
In Vivo Experiments ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Protocol Standardization ◽  
Insight Into

In recent years, plant-derived extracellular vesicles (PDEVs) have gained the interest of many experts in fields such as microbiology and immunology, and research in this field has exponentially increased. These nano-sized particles have provided researchers with a number of interesting findings, making their application in human health and disease very promising. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments have shown that PDEVs can exhibit a multitude of effects, suggesting that these vesicles may have many potential future applications, including therapeutics and nano-delivery of compounds. While the preliminary results are promising, there are still some challenges to face, such as a lack of protocol standardization, as well as knowledge gaps that need to be filled. This review aims to discuss various aspects of PDEV knowledge, including their preliminary findings, challenges, and future uses, giving insight into the complexity of conducting research in this field.

scholarly journals Science for the Next Century: Deep Phenotyping

2021 ◽  
pp. 002203452110018
Author(s):  
J.T. Wright ◽  
M.C. Herzberg
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
The Past ◽  
Large Populations ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Omic Data ◽  
Precision Health ◽  
Deep Phenotyping

Our ability to unravel the mysteries of human health and disease have changed dramatically over the past 2 decades. Decoding health and disease has been facilitated by the recent availability of high-throughput genomics and multi-omics analyses and the companion tools of advanced informatics and computational science. Understanding of the human genome and its influence on phenotype continues to advance through genotyping large populations and using “light phenotyping” approaches in combination with smaller subsets of the population being evaluated using “deep phenotyping” approaches. Using our capability to integrate and jointly analyze genomic data with other multi-omic data, the knowledge of genotype-phenotype relationships and associated genetic pathways and functions is being advanced. Understanding genotype-phenotype relationships that discriminate human health from disease is speculated to facilitate predictive, precision health care and change modes of health care delivery. The American Association for Dental Research Fall Focused Symposium assembled experts to discuss how studies of genotype-phenotype relationships are illuminating the pathophysiology of craniofacial diseases and developmental biology. Although the breadth of the topic did not allow all areas of dental, oral, and craniofacial research to be addressed (e.g., cancer), the importance and power of integrating genomic, phenomic, and other -omic data are illustrated using a variety of examples. The 8 Fall Focused talks presented different methodological approaches for ascertaining study populations and evaluating population variance and phenotyping approaches. These advances are reviewed in this summary.

scholarly journals Vitamin C in Human Health and Disease

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1595
Author(s):  
Dariusz Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Vitamin C ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Citrus Fruit ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Vitamin Supplement ◽  
Vitamin C Deficiency ◽  
Health And Disease

Although the symptoms related to vitamin C deficiency were known in ancient Egypt and eighteenth century Scottish surgeon James Lind found that scurvy (a disease resulting from insufficient dietary ingestion of vitamin C) could be effectively treated with citrus fruit, this vitamin was discovered only in the year 1912 and then after 21 years it was chemically synthetized and introduced to the market as the first vitamin supplement [...]

Integration of culture-dependent and independent methods provides a more coherent picture of the pig gut microbiome

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin J Fenske ◽  
Sudeep Ghimire ◽  
Linto Antony ◽  
Jane Christopher-Hennings ◽  
Joy Scaria
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Communities ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Shotgun Metagenomics ◽  
Culture Techniques ◽  
Microbiome Composition ◽  
Culture Independent ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
The Media ◽  
And Function ◽  
Culture Dependent

ABSTRACT Bacterial communities resident in the hindgut of pigs, have profound impacts on health and disease. Investigations into the pig microbiome have utilized either culture-dependent, or far more commonly, culture-independent techniques using next generation sequencing. We contend that a combination of both approaches generates a more coherent view of microbiome composition. In this study, we surveyed the microbiome of Tamworth breed and feral pigs through the integration high throughput culturing and shotgun metagenomics. A single culture medium was used for culturing. Selective screens were added to the media to increase culture diversity. In total, 46 distinct bacterial species were isolated from the Tamworth and feral samples. Selective screens successfully shifted the diversity of bacteria on agar plates. Tamworth pigs are highly dominated by Bacteroidetes primarily composed of the genus Prevotella whereas feral samples were more diverse with almost equal proportions of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. The combination of metagenomics and culture techniques facilitated a greater retrieval of annotated genes than either method alone. The single medium based pig microbiota library we report is a resource to better understand pig gut microbial ecology and function. It allows for assemblage of defined bacterial communities for studies in bioreactors or germfree animal models.

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