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Current understanding of the human microbiome

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Abstract

Our understanding of the link between the human microbiome and disease, including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis and autism, is rapidly expanding. Improvements in the throughput and accuracy of DNA sequencing of the genomes of microbial communities that are associated with human samples, complemented by analysis of transcriptomes, proteomes, metabolomes and immunomes and by mechanistic experiments in model systems, have vastly improved our ability to understand the structure and function of the microbiome in both diseased and healthy states. However, many challenges remain. In this review, we focus on studies in humans to describe these challenges and propose strategies that leverage existing knowledge to move rapidly from correlation to causation and ultimately to translation into therapies.

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Figure 1: The human microbiome is highly personalized.
Figure 2: The dynamics of the human microbiome.
Figure 3: Iterative experiment and observation to understand and develop microbiome therapies.

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  • 12 June 2018

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Acknowledgements

Many of the studies described here in our laboratories were supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. We thank numerous members of our laboratories for constructive criticism on drafts of this article.

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Correspondence to Rob Knight.

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Gilbert, J., Blaser, M., Caporaso, J. et al. Current understanding of the human microbiome. Nat Med 24, 392–400 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.4517

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