Reproducible community dynamics of the gastrointestinal microbiota following antibiotic perturbation.

ABSTRACT: Shifts in microbial communities are implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of gastrointestinal diseases, but we have limited understanding of the mechanisms that lead to altered community structures. One difficulty with studying these mechanisms in human subjects is the inherent baseline variability of the microbiota in different individuals. In an effort to overcome this baseline variability, we employed a mouse model to control the host genotype, diet, and other possible influences on the microbiota. This allowed us to determine whether the indigenous microbiota in such mice had a stable baseline community structure and whether this community exhibited a consistent response following antibiotic administration. We employed a tag-sequencing strategy targeting the V6 hypervariable regio

SUBMITTER: Antonopoulos DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2687343 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature