Publications by authors named "H Harmsen"
Article Synopsis
- Metagenomics has uncovered a vast diversity of phages in the human gut, but detailed studies on these phages are limited.
- A new bioinformatics method was developed to identify prophages in cultured gut bacteria, leading to the discovery of 15 candidate prophages, with five validated as active.
- The study also found that some active phages had unique genetic features and varied host ranges, while noting a difference in prevalence among inflammatory bowel disease patients compared to healthy individuals, emphasizing the potential of studying prophage dynamics in understanding microbial ecology.
Objectives: Fusobacterium can contribute to oral diseases, but also pose as a systemic risk factor. This genus, and especially F. nucleatum, can be found in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue and is involved in multiple aspects of this type of cancer.
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- The human gut microbiota is crucial for health, with specific families like Lachnospiraceae and Oscillospiraceae often lacking in disease conditions, yet they're not well-represented in lab cultures.
- This study introduces a new culturomics platform that uses a simple growth medium combined with MALDI-TOF MS technology to quickly isolate and identify many gut bacteria, successfully cultivating 724 unique isolates from just 11 fecal samples.
- The research also developed a new database, MaldiGut, that enhances bacterial identification by providing profiles for various species, thus facilitating further investigation of these important but underexplored microbial families.
Maternal obesity during pregnancy is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. This might be due to undesired obesity-induced changes in the maternal gut microbiota and related changes in the maternal immune adaptations during pregnancy. The current study examines how obesity affects gut microbiota and immunity in pregnant obese and lean mice during mid-pregnancy (gestational day 12 (GD12)).
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