Manipulating gut microbes to study human health As
microbiologist Jeffrey Gordon has said, “We never dine alone.”
Bacterial communities in the gastrointestinal tract aid in human
digestion and absorption of nutrients. In a paper published the
September issue of the Journal of Animal Science, Harvard
scientists David Gootenberg and Peter Turnbaugh discussed the
need for in vivo studies of the microbiome. Gootenberg and
Turnbaugh proposed testing bacterial communities in a humanized
animal model. A humanized model would require gut colonization
of human microbes in germ-free animals. Humanized models could
reveal natural patterns of bacterial growth and distribution.
“Recent studies of the ‘human microbiome’ have emphasized the
large degree of variation in the particular strains and species
of bacteria that are found in each person’s gut and other body
habitats,” said Turnbaugh in an interview. Bacteria in the gut
provide humans with vitamins, amino acids, and extra protection
against pathogens. Individual host