Identifying strains that contribute to complex diseases through the study of microbial inheritance

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Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)633-640
Number of pages8
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume112
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Jan 2015

Keywords

  • Disease
  • Effector strains
  • Health
  • Microbial inheritance
  • Strain-resolution human microbial ecology analyses

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