Predicting Gut Microbiome Diversity from Blood

Blood metabolome predicts gut microbiome α-diversity in humans

Objectives:

• Study the reflection of gut microbiome in the bloodstream
• Find blood biomarkers for low, potentially problematic, gut microbiome diversity
• Study the complex interconnections between host metabolism, gut microbial composition, and human health.

Summarizing paragraph:

The microbes in our gut are important to our health, but we do not yet know how to tell if a particular mix of microbes is “healthy”. We have found that gut microbiome diversity is strongly reflected in its host by a small subset of blood metabolites, which may lead to clinical tests to monitor the health of our gut’s tenants. We believe that the key to defining and monitoring a healthy state of the microbiome is examining its reflection in the blood, which may be more stable, quantifiable, and universal.

Relevant Publications:

Blood metabolome predicts gut microbiome α-diversity in humans. Wilmanski T, Rappaport N, Earls JC, Magis AT, Manor O, Lovejoy J, Omenn GS, Hood L, Gibbons SM, Price ND. Nat Biotechnol. 2019 Oct;37(10):1217-1228. doi: 10.1038/s41587-019-0233-9. Epub 2019 Sep 2. PMID:31477923

Learn more in the “behind the paper” post https://bioengineeringcommunity.nature.com/users/297617-noa-rappaport/posts/52687-the-reflection-of-gut-microbiota-in-the-bloodstream

Current Project Leads:

Noa Rappaport	Tomasz Wilmanski	Nathan Price