TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying strains that contribute to complex diseases through the study of microbial inheritance
AU - Faith, Jeremiah J.
AU - Colombel, Jean Frédéric
AU - Gordon, Jeffrey I.
PY - 2015/1/20
Y1 - 2015/1/20
N2 - It has been 35 y since Carl Woese reported in PNAS how sequencing ribosomal RNA genes could be used to distinguish the three domains of life on Earth. During the past decade, 16S rDNA sequencing has enabled the now frequent enumeration of bacterial communities that populate the bodies of humans representing different ages, cultural traditions, and health states. A challenge going forward is to quantify the contributions of community members to wellness, disease risk, and disease pathogenesis. Here, we explore a theoretical framework for studies of the inheritance of bacterial strains and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various study designs for assessing the contribution of strains to complex diseases.
AB - It has been 35 y since Carl Woese reported in PNAS how sequencing ribosomal RNA genes could be used to distinguish the three domains of life on Earth. During the past decade, 16S rDNA sequencing has enabled the now frequent enumeration of bacterial communities that populate the bodies of humans representing different ages, cultural traditions, and health states. A challenge going forward is to quantify the contributions of community members to wellness, disease risk, and disease pathogenesis. Here, we explore a theoretical framework for studies of the inheritance of bacterial strains and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various study designs for assessing the contribution of strains to complex diseases.
KW - Disease
KW - Effector strains
KW - Health
KW - Microbial inheritance
KW - Strain-resolution human microbial ecology analyses
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84921417416&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1418781112
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1418781112
M3 - Review article
C2 - 25576328
AN - SCOPUS:84921417416
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 112
SP - 633
EP - 640
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 3
ER -