Shared Features Of Human Gut Microbial Communities: Variations Linked To Obesity
Monday, December 8, 2008 - 07:07
in Biology & Nature
Researchers have catalogued the microbial species in the guts of lean and obese female twins and their mothers, finding that each individual carries a unique collection of bacteria, although the communities are more similar among family members. However, when the scientists looked closer, they found the various collections of bacterial species carried a common set of genes that performed key functions to complement those performed by our human genes.