Comprehensive analyses of a large human gut Bacteroidales culture collection reveal species- and strain-level diversity and evolution.

Species of the Bacteroidales order are among the most abundant and stable bacterial members of the human gut microbiome, with diverse impacts on human health. We cultured and sequenced the genomes of 408 Bacteroidales isolates from healthy human donors representing nine genera and 35 species and performed comparative genomic, gene-specific, metabolomic, and horizontal gene transfer analyses. Families, genera, and species could be grouped based on many distinctive features.