Species-function relationships shape ecological properties of the human gut microbiome.

Despite recent progress, the organization and ecological properties of the intestinal microbial ecosystem remain under-investigated. Here, using a manually curated metabolic module framework for (meta-)genomic data analysis, we studied species-function relationships in gut microbial genomes and microbiomes. Half of gut-associated species were found to be generalists regarding overall substrate preference, but we observed significant genus-level metabolic diversification linked to bacterial life strategies.

Inflammation-associated enterotypes, host genotype, cage and inter-individual effects drive gut microbiota variation in common laboratory mice.

Background: Murine models are a crucial component of gut microbiome research. Unfortunately, a multitude of genetic backgrounds and experimental setups, together with inter-individual variation, complicates cross-study comparisons and a global understanding of the mouse microbiota landscape. Here, we investigate the variability of the healthy mouse microbiota of five common lab mouse strains using 16S rDNA pyrosequencing.