Caister Academic Press

Metagenomics of the Gut Microbiota as a Tool for Discovery of New Probiotics and Prebiotics

Hyun Ju You, Jiyeon Si and GwangPyo Ko
from: Probiotics and Prebiotics: Current Research and Future Trends (Edited by: Koen Venema and Ana Paula do Carmo). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2015) Pages: 245-264.

Abstract

The human gut is comprised of diverse microbiota, which put substantial impact on various human diseases. The gut microbiota is linked to the maintaining gastrointestinal homeostasis and the association between metabolic and inflammatory diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, low-grade chronic inflammation, and inflammatory bowel disease. Consequentially, the growing interest in gut microbiota has resulted in the development of functional foods such as probiotics and prebiotics, which have been reduce the risk of disease and improve host health. Recent advances in nucleotide sequencing technology widen the profile of the previously unknown microbial communities. International collaborative projects such as the MetaHIT initiative and the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) revealed the diversity of the gut microbiota and their metabolic functions and interactions in the host using this new technique. Current advancement of these tools eases analysis of the massive datasets, yet challenges remain for a complete construction of the microbiome. Here we discuss the development of metagenomics along with the challenges and future perspectives for metagenomic studies to find new probiotics and prebiotics read more ...
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