Gut microbiota density influences host physiology and is shaped by host and microbial factors
Summary
To identify factors that regulate the absolute microbiota and the impact of varied microbiota density on health, we assayed gut microbiota density across mammals, disease, and therapeutic interventions. Physiologic features of the host (carrying capacity) and the fitness of the gut microbiota shape microbiota density. Therapeutic manipulation of microbiota density in mice altered host metabolic and immune homeostasis. In humans, gut microbiota density was reduced in Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. The gut microbiota in recurrent Clostridium difficile infection had lower density and reduced fitness that were restored by fecal microbiota transplantation. Understanding the interplay between microbiota and disease through the conceptual framework of microbiota density, host carrying capacity, and microbiota fitness could provide biomarkers to identify candidates for microbiota therapeutics and monitor their response.
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