The Gut Microbiome in Health and in Disease

Authors and Disclosures

Andrew B. Shreiner^a, John Y. Kao^a and Vincent B. Young^b

^aDivision of Gastroenterology and ^bDivision of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Correspondence to
Vincent B. Young, MD, PhD, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Health System, 1520B MSRB I SPC 5666, 1150W. Medical Center Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48109–5666, USA. Tel: +1 734 764 2237; fax: +1 734 763 4168; e-mail: youngvi@umich.edu

Financial support and sponsorship
This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health: DK094775 (A.B.S.), DK087708 (J.Y.K.), DK083993 (V.B.Y.), and AI090871 (V.B.Y.).

Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.

Sidebar

Key Points

• The known sequences of the human microbial metagenome likely contain the vast majority of common bacterial species.

• An individual's microbiome is quite stable over time, but there is variability at the extremes of age and among different individuals. Diet and other environmental factors also affect the composition of the microbiome.

• In comparison to healthy controls, alterations in the microbiota are recognized in a growing number of disease states, but, outside of CDI, the role of these microbiota alterations in the pathogenesis of disease is uncertain.

• A better understanding of the functional interactions between the human host and the microbiome is very likely to lead to new diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic capabilities.