Journal article
Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome
European Molecular Biology Laboratory1
University of Miyazaki2
Wageningen University & Research3
Tokyo Institute of Technology4
BGI Group5
Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark6
CFB - Metagenomic Systems Biology, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark7
Institut Mérieux8
UCB S.A.9
Danone S.A.10
Technical University of Denmark11
Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives12
Strasbourg University13
Wellcome Sanger Institute14
European Institute of Oncology15
INRAE16
Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark17
Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark18
University Hospital Vall d’Hebron19
Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación20
University of Copenhagen21
The University of Tokyo22
...and 12 moreOur 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.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group UK |
Year: | 2011 |
Pages: | 174-180 |
Journal subtitle: | International Weekly Journal of Science |
ISSN: | 14764687 and 00280836 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1038/nature09944 |
ORCIDs: | 0000-0002-0886-9101 , 0000-0001-8748-3831 , 0000-0002-2066-7895 , 0000-0002-3321-3972 , 0000-0003-0316-5866 , 0000-0002-6024-0917 and Nielsen, Henrik Bjørn |