Comments on: Your microbiome and you (part I): Gut

By: Open Laboratory 2010 – submissions so far | A Blog Around The Clock

Open Laboratory 2010 – submissions so far | A Blog Around The Clock — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:53:44 +0000

[...] indigestion: Your microbiome and you (part I): Gut Mental indigestion: The grass isn’t always [...]

By: Open Laboratory 2010 – submissions so far « A Blog Around The Clock

Open Laboratory 2010 – submissions so far « A Blog Around The Clock — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:23:24 +0000

[...] indigestion: Your microbiome and you (part I): Gut Mental indigestion: The grass isn’t always [...]

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:50:40 +0000

That’s a very interesting observation.

I’ve not had time to data mine their raw data, but it doesn’t surprise me that transient colonisers are present. My experience however is mainly with skin bacteria, and certainly in this environment the external environment will have a strong part to play in species diversity and gene dosage. S. aureus for example colonises roughly 20% of the population, yet this rises to 99% is hospital environments. We already know that the younger siblings of adolescents treated with antibiotics for acne have a high resistance phenotype of their own skin flora, even though they never have been directly exposed to such an antibiotic.

Whilst this is going to make analysis of the microbiome a bit of a headache, the metagenomic analysis of these microbiomes will continue to highlight the scope for potential horizontal gene transfer between resident and visiting populations.

By: Mark Reimers

Mark Reimers — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:50:22 +0000

Just to add a bit more detail; I have been reanalyzing the Wash U gut microbiome data and find that there are a few microbes often present at high numbers, which are highly variable between samplings, and a large number of microbes present at lower levels, which are nevertheless much more stable than you would expect. I’m guessing that those latter are more closely associated with the cells of the colon, whilst the former are opportunists, taking advantage of whatever nutrients were in excess in the last meal. The interesting thing is that people have very different complements of what I call ‘opportunists’: many microbes are present at high abundance in a few individuals, but completely absent from other people’s guts.

By: Ramamurthy

Ramamurthy — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:24:49 +0000

This is very useful, the Forsythe Dental Research Group also reported that the bacteria inside periodontal pocket (between the gum and teeth) also cahnged in obese people compare to normal people. Whehter these changes occured first in the gut then in the gum or vice versa. Periodntist always very creative in linking the bacteria in the gum to any systemic diseases like heart attack, cancer,kidney disease, low birthweight, irritable bowel syndrome etc. This creativity help them get NIH funding.

By: Lab Rat

Lab Rat — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:58:53 +0000

I mostly blog about things other than bacteria because that’s what features in exams; the unfortunate byproduct of doing a ‘biochemistry’ rather than a ‘microbiology’ degree (not sure if those even exist). If I actually end up doing a PhD with bacteria, the non-bacteria posts are likely to dry up altogether!

Microbiomes are amazing, but I must admit I’ve never done any work on them, I’ve only ever worked with soil bacteria and (of course) E. coli.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:43:20 +0000

Ha, well, I took my editor out, got him a little bit drunk, fed him well, then tortured him into letting my writing through by sleep depriving him all week. I think it’s a winning, if not sustainable, tactic

I would write about bacteria all the time if I could, being a classically trained bacteriologist, but I try to challenge myself to broader areas, as do you

That being said, the scope for studies into the structure and function of our microbiomes is just too good to miss writing about. I could turn my blog over to this research entirely if I didn’t think people would grow weary of it.

I need to find an angle to write an actual feature on the subject, rather than a article-report.

By: Lab Rat

Lab Rat — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:57:28 +0000

Oh wow, not only did you get a great post past your personal-editor, but you wrote it about bacteria!

I’ve never been convinced about the probiotics myself (which doesn’t stop me taking them by the gallon whenever I’m on antibiotics on the basis that it can’t hurt). The thing I find most baffling about the ‘probiotic’-yoghurt is that often the first step in making it is to kill all the bacteria that would be present usually (for example in natural yoghurt) and then carefully add their own culture of bacteria.

“gene-level core microbiome can be transmitted from mother to child”
I was having a big discussion about this with a guy at a conference a few months ago. His viewpoint (which I never did find the time to do a paper-chase up on) was that apart from the occasional bacteria that might be passed through breast milk, or from the baby accidently swallowing a few times as it’s being born, most bacteria have to get inside the gut by the usual kids trick of putting random things in their mouth.