Colon Colonies

Colon Colonies

Trillions of bacteria reside in the intestines. Teasing out how these microbes, collectively known as the microbiome, affect health is a challenge. One group at the Stanford University School of Medicine took human microbes and put them into the gut of a mouse. The multi-colored, jellybean-like structures at the top left corner of the image come from people. The blue spheres are mouse intestinal cells.

Mice colonized with human microbes allow scientists to study the human microbiome in more precise ways. They can tweak the diet, introduce disease-causing bacteria, and analyze in detail where certain bacteria live.



All that is "not so easy with human subjects," said Erica Sonnenburg, one of the Stanford scientists.



This way, they can create a living map of the microbiome--and use it to figure out how these critters affect the host. The hope is that the insights scientists glean from animal studies will help them understand what happens in people when their gut bacteria change.



For example, recently, the lab found that low-fiber diets, like those of many Western eaters, can have profound, adverse effects on the diversity of the intestines' fauna. How these alterations might manifest as disease remains to be seen. They reported their findings in the journal Nature.



BY DANIELA HERNANDEZ

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